Brussels, 23 June 2026 – As Europe’s electricity networks become smarter, more digital and increasingly integrated with renewable energy sources, ensuring the availability of a skilled workforce has become one of the sector’s greatest challenges. To support this transition, the SG-SKILL project organised its first T2.2 Industry workshop on Smart Grids job market requirements and challenges, organised by E.DSO and hosted by T&D Europe in Brussels in a hybrid format.
The workshop formas part of Work Package 2 – Sectoral cooperation on skills and job profiles, which aims to identify current and future skills needs across the Smart Grids value chain and establish a common methodology for anticipating workforce demands. Bringing together representatives from industry, academia and project partners, the event provided an interactive forum to validate early findings and gather direct input from key stakeholders.
Mapping skills across the Smart Grids value chain
During the first session, participants explored the seven stages of the Smart Grids value chain – from planning and design to operation, maintenance and commercialisation – to identify the occupational profiles most in demand and the skills required for each. Interactive polls and moderated discussions revealed that organisations are recruiting across the entire value chain, while facing significant difficulties in finding candidates with the right combination of technical and digital competencies.
One of the strongest messages emerging from the workshop was the growing need for professionals who combine expertise in power systems with digital technologies, including data analytics, AI, cybersecurity and OT/IT integration. Participants also highlighted that many organisations rely heavily on internal upskilling and reskilling due to the limited availability of suitably qualified candidates.
Understanding the barriers
The second part of the workshop focused on identifying the factors that prevent organisations from meeting their workforce needs. Participants ranked a series of barriers, including the education-industry mismatch, lengthy onboarding periods, competition for talent and challenges in transferring knowledge between generations of professionals.
The discussion also highlighted broader structural challenges, such as the need to improve the attractiveness of engineering careers, increase diversity within the sector and establish common European training frameworks that facilitate skills recognition and workforce mobility. According to participants, addressing these issues will require coordinated action from industry, education providers, policymakers and European institutions.
Supporting the development of future training programmes
The outcomes of the workshop will directly contribute to Deliverable D2.1 – State of the art in Smart Grids education and assessment of industry needs, providing valuable evidence for the design of new vocational education and higher education curricula within SG-SKILL.
The workshop represents an important milestone in ensuring that the project’s future training programmes reflect real labour market needs and support the development of a workforce capable of driving Europe’s digital and green energy transition.
SG-SKILL would like to thank E.DSO for organising and hosting the workshop, as well as all participants for their valuable contributions and active engagement. Their insights will play a key role in shaping the project’s next activities and helping to build a stronger skills ecosystem for the European Smart Grids sector.
