Human resources policy in the renewable energy sector in the Republic of Uzbekistan

According to the report of the Renewable Energy Market (REM) of May 11, 2022, the input of new generating capacities on the basis of renewable energy sources (RES) in the world will reach a record level of 320 GW in 2022. This is 8.5% more than last year's figure, when 295 GW of RES were put into operation [1]. More than 90% of this growth comes from solar photovoltaic and wind farms. This is the result not only of technology development, which has significantly reduced the cost of power generation, but also of the increasing environmental requirements in most countries of the world. According to expert forecasts, by 2030 the share of RES based on solar and wind power generation will reach 60% of the total electricity production of the European continent.

It is already easy to assume that in the foreseeable future the renewable energy industry will be one of the big employers in need of a large number of highly skilled workers. According to ILO, the number of workers in the renewable energy industry reached 12.7 million in 2022: a year-on-year increase of 700,000 jobs, despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the intensification of the energy crisis [2]. And every year the need for professionals specializing in renewable energy will only grow.

Uzbekistan has adopted a strategy[1] for the development of renewable energy sources (RES), where the share of alternative (carbon-free) energy in the country's total electricity production by 2030 should increase from the current 10%, generated exclusively by hydropower plants (HPPs), to 25% due to new solar power plant (SPP) and wind farm projects.

Since 2018, a number of legislative documents have come into force in Uzbekistan to achieve these goals, among them:

• The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On the Use of Renewable Energy Sources”[2];
• Presidential Decree of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On accelerated measures for the improvement of energy efficiency in economic sectors and social sphere, introduction of energy saving technologies and development of renewable energy sources”[3];
• Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers "On Accelerating the Production of Renewable Energy Sources”[4].

Certainly, it should be noted that the mass introduction of renewable energy sources is a relatively new trend for Uzbekistan in the energy sector and industry in general. RES are currently the most advanced "green generation" technologies, the process of development of which is gaining momentum. Therefore, for the large-scale implementation of RES, the country needs not just highly qualified specialists, but a full-fledged infrastructure of industry staffing, the absence of which makes the reliable and efficient operation of clean energy sources impossible.

The engine of any sphere of human activity is science and scientific and technological progress. Without proper attention to these areas, any sphere of activity will degrade and eventually cease to exist. And power sector, the renewable energy sector in particular, is no exception. In this regard, on April 9, 2021 by Presidential Decree № PP-5063 the National Research Institute for Renewable Energy was created under the Ministry of Energy on the basis of LLC "International Institute of Solar Energy" of Academy of Sciences [3], and in its structure - Research Center for Hydrogen Energy and the Laboratory for testing and certification of renewable and hydrogen energy technologies. One of the main objectives of the institute is to form, together with local and foreign higher educational organizations, a unified system linking the processes from scientific research to production, as well as training of highly qualified scientific personnel in the field of RES and hydrogen energy.

But, nevertheless, the "forge" of human resources is the higher educational institutions. To date, Uzbekistan has a number of domestic universities and branches of foreign universities with engineering and technical orientation, faculties and departments on "Renewable/Alternative Energy Sources", which train energy engineers. As an example, we can cite: Tashkent State Technical University named after I. Karimov, Kimyo International University in Tashkent (former Yeoju Technical Institute in Tashkent), a branch of National Research University "MEI" (Russia), National Research University "Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers", etc.

Modern RES technologies are digital technologies, which have become an integral part of the improvement of "green" generation. Therefore, qualified personnel are often drawn from other industries, for example, computer engineers, programmers and other similar specialists are in high demand in the energy sector. There is a list of Uzbek universities that train highly qualified and advanced specialists. These include the Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khwarizmi, a branch of the Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent (Italy), Amity University in Tashkent (India), a branch of Inha University in Tashkent (South Korea) and a number of other universities.

It is also worth mentioning the environmental aspect of this issue. The RES sector needs highly qualified specialists in the sphere of ecology and environment. Positive and negative environmental effects of renewable energy is an issue that requires comprehensive research. Ecology considers the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the environment. Also, it considers the entire life cycle of production, from the preparatory stages and including side effects in the process of energy generation, to the utilization (this issue will be detailed in a separate article) of energy equipment of renewable energy. This includes the production of silicon-based solar panels, solar collectors, the main and auxiliary elements of wind turbines and much more. And a proper environmental assessment of all of these stages of renewable energy is already a requirement of our time.

Integration of green economy principles in education and science, described in the Decree of the President of the RUz "On approval of the strategy for the transition of the Republic of Uzbekistan to a green economy for the period 2019-2030"[5].:

• Improvement of curricula of relevant fields of higher and specialized secondary education with regard to the basics of "green" economy, introduction of renewable energy sources, development of "clean" transport and energy saving tasks, as well as introduction of topics on the basics of "green" economy in the relevant programs of general secondary education;
• Introducing topics on the basics of "green economy" into relevant (by field) of educational literature for higher, secondary special, vocational, general secondary education in the process of its preparation or re-publishing;
• Introducing the basics of green economy into the programs for retraining and advanced training of pedagogical and scientific staff, including "Green Technologies", "Basics of environmental regulation considering "green criteria", "Renewable energy technologies", "Problems of energy saving and energy efficiency";
• Providing support for research and innovative development in the field of "green" technologies.

Currently, one of the solutions to provide the renewable energy sector with qualified specialists is the issue of retraining and professional development of personnel from other related fields in the energy sector.

Retraining and professional development is a comprehensive program of education, trainings and seminars on capacity building in RES, including international RES technologies and development trends, legal, institutional and regulatory aspects, RES assessment tools, as well as issues of RES integration into the energy system.

Therefore, retraining and professional development can play an important role for employees with relevant skills who want to move into this sector, as well as for graduates who have less specialized degrees in renewable energy.

To summarize, it can be said that the formation of human resources policy requires a systematic approach to this issue. This includes the creation of a legislative framework, development of training and methodological plans, increasing enrollment in educational institutions in fields of renewable energy for applicants, training environmental specialists specializing in renewable energy, as well as development of an integrated approach to the issue of retraining and professional development for teachers of energy related subjects of Uzbek universities, as well as specialists from other related fields in the energy sector.

At the same time, the rapidly changing landscape of the renewable energy industry poses new challenges to the energy system, to which it does not always have time to respond promptly. As a result, the energy industry is experiencing staff shortages, and not so much in quantity as in quality.

 

The sources used:

1.            Renewable Energy Market Update Outlook for 2022 and 2023 – [Electronic resource]. – Mode of access: https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/d6a7300d-7919-4136-b73a-3541c33f8bd7/RenewableEnergyMarketUpdate2022.pdf

2.            UN News. A Global Perspective on Human Destiny. URL: https://news.un.org/ru/story/2022/09/1432171  

Editorial Board of Yangi Uzbekiston and Pravda Vostoka newspapers. URL: https://yuz.uz/ru/news/v-uzbekistane-sozdan-natsionalny-nauchno-issledovatelskiy-institut-vozobnovlyaemx-istochnikov-energii

 

[1] Presidential Decree of the Republic of Uzbekistan of January 28, 2022. No. UP-60: “About the strategy of development for New Uzbekistan for 2022 – 2026”. https: https://lex.uz/ru/docs/5841077

[2] Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan, of May 21,2019. No. LRU-539. https://lex.uz/docs/4346835

[3] Presidential Decree of the Republic of Uzbekistan of August 22, 2019. No. PP-4422. https://lex.uz/ru/docs/4486127

[4] Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan of September 21, 2022. No. 518. https://lex.uz/ru/docs/6201423

[5] Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan of October 4, 2019. No. PP-4477. https://lex.uz/ru/docs/4539506