Birmingham clean energy jobs fair draws 400 as mayor ties growth to retrofit programme

More than 400 young people and jobseekers met clean energy employers at University College Birmingham on Thursday 12 November for the third government-backed Clean Energy Jobs Fair, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said.

Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh and Local Energy and Jobs Minister Martin McCluskey attended, with employers including Octopus Energy and National Grid showcasing jobs and training on offer across the region.

DESNZ said about 400 of those attending were 15 to 18-year-olds from local schools and colleges, with a further 50 young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs).

Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, linked the sector's growth to the region's building energy upgrade programme. He said: "I recently met a young man in Coventry who went from one of our retrofit bootcamps to a well-paid job in a matter of weeks."

The regional picture

Parker said the region's clean energy sector already employs more than 20,000 people and that he expects that figure to more than double over the next decade, on the back of what he described as the region's biggest ever programme of energy upgrades to homes, businesses and public buildings.

DESNZ said the government's Clean Energy Jobs Plan sets out how the clean energy mission could support thousands of extra clean energy jobs in the West Midlands by 2030.

Nationally, the plan projects the clean energy workforce could nearly double from about 440,000 in 2023 to around 860,000 jobs supported by 2030. It identifies 31 priority occupations, which DESNZ said include plumbers, electricians and welders.

DESNZ said entry-level roles in most clean energy occupations pay 23% more than the same occupations in other sectors.

Fahnbulleh said the clean power drive had attracted more than £110bn in private investment. She said: "From electricians, engineers, and welders to those working in the technologies of the future, there is a place for everyone in Britain's clean energy economy."

Retrofit context

DESNZ said the West Midlands is home to Tyseley Energy Park, seven demonstrator Net Zero Neighbourhoods, Energy Systems Catapult and the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in Coventry.

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) said Dudley Fields in Walsall is one of the seven Net Zero Neighbourhoods. That £8m scheme will retrofit up to 160 homes on the Dudley Fields estate, and the WMCA said a skills and employment drive is central to it.

Employer commitments

Chris O'Shea, Chief Executive of Centrica, said the company is committed to recruiting 3,500 apprentices by 2030.

Cordi O'Hara, Executive President at National Grid UK, said applications for the company's apprenticeship and graduate programmes open this week. DESNZ cited National Grid's £5m fund to upskill NEETs into energy and infrastructure jobs as an example of employers helping that group into work. Delivery partner Volunteer It Yourself (VIY) said the programme, Power Within, aims to support 5,000 NEET young people towards employment by 2031, with VIY selected alongside The King's Trust and Fedcap to deliver it.

Rachel McCrystal, Social Impact and Sustainability Manager at Daikin UK, said careers in the transition range from engineering and installation to training, technical support and commercial roles.

Guy Newey, CEO of Energy Systems Catapult, said every young person at the fair is a potential founder, innovator or entrepreneur.

Exhibitors listed by DESNZ included National Grid, Energy Systems Catapult, British Gas, Octopus Energy, AceOn and Daikin.

Professor Rosa Wells, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (FE College Principal, Apprenticeships & STEM) at University College Birmingham, said the university hosted the fair alongside its Green Skills Advisory Panel. DESNZ said the university has also secured Innovate UK funding to expand battery manufacturing skills training. The university runs a battery skills programme, the Birmingham Battery Manufacturing Skills Pathway, which it said was developed in collaboration with employers including Jaguar Land Rover, Microsoft, Rockwell Automation, Atlas Copco, Pi-Kem, Delta Cosworth and Yazaki.

The series so far

The Birmingham event follows the first fair at Port of Tyne in the North East in 2025, co-hosted by the North East Mayor, Port of Tyne and DESNZ, and a second at Barnsley College on 12 February 2026, which DESNZ said drew around 175 schoolchildren and students. The Barnsley release said up to 20,000 extra clean energy jobs were expected in Yorkshire and the Humber by 2030.

DESNZ described the West Midlands fair as the latest in a series of events across the country.