May 30, 2025

The local development of solar, wind, storage, and green hydrogen energy currently faces a major hurdle: there are few specialized professionals in these areas, and the educational offering is still incipient.

The rising demand for renewable energy development and the adoption of new technologies in Chile has revealed a shortage of professionals specialized in this field. This reality “is mainly affecting emerging technologies such as green hydrogen, where the educational offerings are still scarce and the few existing training centers are concentrated in certain regions,” says Daniel Olivares, Director of Civil Engineering in Energy at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and researcher at the Center for Energy Transition. In technologies like wind and solar, “the gap is smaller,” he notes, although he points out the continued need for more technically skilled professionals with a systemic vision.

According to Natalia Martini, Director of Workforce Training Systems at CirculaHR of Fundación Chile, the talent shortage in renewable energy “represents a major obstacle for the advancement of projects in key sectors such as solar, wind, energy storage, and green hydrogen,” and she warns that this shortage negatively impacts various stages—from planning through to project operation and maintenance. “In particular, the high turnover rate of professionals, with an average tenure of just 1.2 years in the sector, hinders the continuity and stability of work teams,” says Martini. She also notes that the growing presence of multinational companies “has raised and diversified competency requirements,” which further limits the availability of qualified personnel.

Opportunities

In response to this scenario, both companies and academic institutions have begun to implement strategies “to strengthen the training of new professionals and upskill those already in the field, especially in technical roles critical for the energy transition,” says Alejandro Cabezas, Senior Manager of the Energy Division at Michael Page. In his view, while the country has a limited number of specialists in this area, today’s professionals are “better trained and possess more technical knowledge,” enabling them not only to face this transition more solidly but also to position Chile as a reference point for other markets.

An example of this is the implementation in 2023 and 2024 of three training programs focused on green hydrogen specialization, promoted by Corfo in coordination with the Strategic Committee for the Green Hydrogen Action Plan. These programs aim to enhance specialization in wind, solar photovoltaic, and storage technologies. According to data provided by Corfo, while two of the programs are still under development, the courses on solar plant operation and maintenance and wind farm installation and assembly have already graduated 99 and 103 participants, respectively.