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Thousands Of Green Jobs To Be Created By ESB
3 comments | 
Local Green Party candidate for Cork East, Malachy Harty, has welcomed the announcement by ESB that up to 6,000 jobs and training opportunities are to be created through green projects and initiatives.
ESB Aghada Power Station
The ESB confirmed that 3,700 jobs will be created in the areas of wind energy, smart networks and smart metering, electric vehicles, construction and energy servicing. Mr. Harty said: “Going green saves money and creates jobs. Today’s announcement is proof of this. As an island nation we can use our vast wind and wave resources to power our homes and our cars. In order to do this, we need to install and upgrade our electricity network in a smart way – and this is where many of the jobs announced by the ESB will come from.”
“The Green Party in Government has taken Irish energy in a new direction. Our initiatives such as smart meters, smart networks, electric cars, renewable energy, green technology and home insulation are bearing fruit. Now we must look at how these jobs can be created and sustained at a local level. We are already seeing innovative companies such as Nualight leading the way in green technology. Cork and Ireland have a real chance to exploit the opportunities that green tech has to offer. If we can do this, it will boost local job retention and provide sustainable economic growth”
Specific projects resulting in the creation of new jobs include:
* The roll-out of Smart Metering and the implementation of ESB’s Smart Networks Strategy which will lead to 1,500 jobs by 2013.
* Novus Modus (ESB’s new energy technology fund) has committed to a five year programme of investment in clean energy and energy efficiency (350 jobs). The fund has just invested €2.5 million in the Cork-based company, Nualight, which is creating up to 60 additional jobs locally.
* Electric vehicles (600 jobs) including the roll-out of the infrastructure to allow electric vehicles to be recharged.
* Working with Sustainable Energy Ireland, ESB will offer free home-energy efficiency surveys to 25,000 householders and subsequent support to allow them implement necessary measures.
* In order to alleviate the current severe shortage of electrical engineers, ESB will finance 50 apprentices each year for the next four years to allow them to achieve a third level engineering degree.
In addition, ESB will sustain a further 1300 jobs outside the company through ongoing investment programmes in the company’s power generation and networks infrastructure. The company will recruit 250 engineers and 50 other professionals and train 800 apprentices over the next five years, including 400 FAS apprentices who recently lost their jobs and will now be able to complete their craft training, paid for by ESB.
Malachy Harty concluded: “There’s no denying that times are tough, but with proper planning and investment, we can help kickstart the economy, get people off our dole queues and sustain our energy future, while helping the environment too.’
Information:
Malachy Harty
021 4652429
087 1213764
malachyharty@gmail.com
3 comments |
This is fantastic news for the people of the area. I sincerly hope that the people of youghal can benefit from these new jobs!
The ESB’s official announcement was made on the 16th of April.
However I will echo Eoin’s comment that hopefully Youghal will benefit from the new jobs.
Disclaimer: I work for ESB.
Someone would want to tell Malachy Harty (first I’ve heard of him), that he’s about five weeks too late.
Although if he’s timing it for the local elections, he’s right on target.
This announcement by Padraig McManus is part of an overall investment by ESB in sustainability and energy efficiency initiatives of around €22Bn or so. The aspiration is to reduce carbon emissions by a third by 2012 (just three years now), half by 2020, and to be carbon neutral by 2035 IIRC.
Youghal will stand at no advantage above any other population centre in this regard, but people seeking work should be advised to keep an eye out on recruitment sites for more information, as we have already begun recruiting existing apprentices to complete their time, and more opportunities will be arising as the year goes on.