Minster for Energy and Climate Change Greg Barker said this week that the Green Deal programme is expected to attract capital investment of up to £15 billion in the domestic sector over the next ten years, and at its peak could support 250,000 jobs.
Barker was speaking at the launch of the Green Deal Skills Alliance in London on Thursday. The Green Deal Skills Alliance is a partnership programme of three sector skills bodies that has been set up to create qualifications frameworks for Green Deal and related industries.
The Green Deal is a new Government scheme that aims to help households and businesses become more energy efficient without having to pay for energy-saving measures up-front.
Under scheme the cost of installing domestic energy saving measures energy saving work will be repaid over time through a charge on the home’s energy bill. The repayments must obey a “golden rule” whereby the charge is no more than the expected savings, meaning householders should start benefiting from savings immediately.
The Green Deal is due to go live in October.
The Green Deal will have major implications for the skills base needed in the areas of energy assessment, certification, and both domestic and commercial energy advice.
Barker said the Green Deal also presented a great opportunity for young people. He said the Green Deal would provide excellent opportunities for them to up-skill through apprenticeships and training schemes so they would be ready to meet the challenge of the new job market.
The Green Deal Skills Alliance is running a series of free half-day events to raise awareness of the skills requirements for Green Deal.
More information is available on the Asset Skills website at this address:
http://www.assetskills.org/GreenSkills/GreenDealConnections.aspx