Industrial value chains – especially with the shift towards green technologies – are shaping careers in sustainable energy in Europe. The European Union has sizable energy ambitions in the coming decades to assure this sector’s continued growth. These ambitions are primarily driven by the European Industrial Strategy, the foundation for Europe’s transition to a green and digital economy; and the European Green Deal, the cornerstone of the EU’s post-COVID recovery.
As the largest ecosystem of sustainable energy in Europe, EIT InnoEnergy is at the core of these initiatives. Therefore, it is investing in several projects to support Europe’s efforts and to create tons of new career opportunities for young European talent who join its Master’s programmes.
EIT InnoEnergy’s industrial value chain initiatives
Meet the exciting initiatives that embrace the core of the European Union’s goals – reaching climate-neutrality by 2050 while transforming climate and environmental challenges into opportunities:
- The European Green Hydrogen Acceleration Center (EGHAC), supported by Breakthrough Energy, aims to create half a million jobs across the entire value chain. It will advance green hydrogen – an integral part of decarbonising industry – by developing a 100 billion a year green H20 economy by 2025. This will create plenty of opportunities for talented young engineers such as Carina Krastel, graduate of EIT InnoEnergy Master’s in Sustainable Energy Systems and recently appointed Commercial Director of EGHAC!
- The European Battery Alliance (EBA) addresses the challenge of supplying capable batteries for migrating away from fossil to electric. The industrial development programme of the European Battery Alliance, the EBA250, is managed by EIT InnoEnergy. CEO Diego Pavia explains: “The EBA brings together more than 600 industrial, financial and innovation actors with the objective to build a strong, sustainable and competitive European industrial battery value chain, from mining to recycling.”
- The European Solar Initiative (ESI) is anchored in the industrial strategy presented by the European Commission, which aims to scale up the solar PV industrial ecosystem in Europe – to reach 20 GW annual production capacity by 2025. It has been launched in cooperation with Solar Power Europe, a top employer of EIT InnoEnergy graduates.
Careers in energy storage
Battery production (and the entire battery value chain itself) is driving a lot of Europe’s energy capacity growth. As a result, EIT InnoEnergy-supported projects and companies are ramping up all over Europe to achieve EU objectives. For example, Northvolt who has recently raised $6.5 billion in capital to continue its expansion plan leading up to and beyond 150 GWh of deployed annual production capacity in Europe by 2030. Pavia said: “Northvolt is a leading example of how Europe can create new industrial value chains, which are at the core of growth, job creation and competitiveness.”
To tackle this growing sector in high need of talent, EIT InnoEnergy included energy storage and electric mobility subjects in most of its programmes but it also designed a specialised programme in the field: Master’s in Energy Storage. This programme provides students with the engineering skills and innovation mindset needed in this fast-evolving field that has a forecasted 100,000 new jobs annually – with many success stories of students and grads placed in this sector. Such as Hoda Ataee, EIT InnoEnergy alumna, who shares: “To work at the industry-leading company like Northvolt, you need to possess comprehensive knowledge about the entire battery technology and manufacturing process. The master’s courses provided great theoretical knowledge that I could then study in practice during my internship.” Curious about Hoda’s experience? Check it out here.
Track record in solar energy
The European Solar Initiatives (ESI) takes advantage of one of EIT InnoEnergy’s Master School strongest areas – renewable energy sources. Programmes such as the Master’s in Renewable Energy and Master’s in Energy Technologies prepare students to take advantage of the enormous opportunities in this sector. The programmes are constantly evolving to offer students the best possible training in the field by some of the best technical universities in Europe such as KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, Ecole Polytechnique in France, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and more.
In fact, it was just announced that students joining the Master’s in Energy Technologies in 2022 will be able to study their first year at one of the TOP schools globally – Uppsala University in Sweden. This expansion of the programme will allow students to follow courses on topics such as solar energy systems and solar thermal technologies as well as other renewable energy topics like hydroelectric power and wind energy.
Tons of EIT InnoEnergy graduates are already working in the solar energy field, such as alumni start-up – Solcor Portugal. They bring no cost and no risk solar energy to companies via their unused space, such as a rooftop. Co-founder, Vincent Vangeel, shares his success: “In Europe, companies want to embrace solar, to use clean energy and make environmental consciousness part of their brand – and we’re dedicated to helping them accomplish that!” Yet another excellent graduate idea that has come to fruition!
Exclusive opportunities for European students
EIT InnoEnergy understands that the success of these initiatives is linked with the capacity to attract and on-board the most talented professionals in each field. Therefore, it has introduced dedicated support mechanisms for European students interested in its Master’s programmes:
- Full participation fee waivers for selected candidates from EIT RIS (regional innovation scheme) countries.
- European partial fee waiver (worth € 12.000 per year): awarded to graduates from top European universities.
Discover how to apply to our programmes and join us to shape the future of sustainable energy in Europe.
Photo credits: Shashidhar Suragimath