The qualification profiles of the people involved in the Solar Energy industry will differ depending on their areas of activity within the PV sector value chain.
The workforce needed to satisfy this future demand for highly qualified personnel will partly consist of persons explicitly specialised in photovoltaics, or academics from relevant disciplines, trained within the PV sector.
In the future, demand for PV specialists should be satisfied by highly skilled academics and skilled workers, such as the following:
Highly skilled academics: academics with university studies specialised in photovoltaics, and academics from other disciplines including mainly physics, chemistry, engineering and other technical backgrounds, but also business development, architecture, design, marketing or accounting.
Skilled workers: personnel such as technicians or electricians who have undertaken an apprenticeship during their education.

The current major source of employment stems from the production of PV systems – this trend is likely to continue until 2020. In 2005 the production sector witnessed an employment share of 60%, however as forecasts show, this number is likely to decrease to 55% by 2010. By 2020 its share is likely to drop to as low as 45% and is likely to lose shares to operation and maintenance (O&M) activities:

Evolution of the employment share per stage of the PV value chain

Source: PV-Employment 2009

In the long term, most jobs will be created in the O&M of PV systems and in servicing activities. The creation of indirect jobs will also be considerably high, accounting for 39% of the total employment creation.

Qualification profiles of the PV workforce
The qualifications required will differ depending on the stage of the value chain at which personnel to be employed in the PV sector will be active. Hereafter are listed the most relevant qualifications according to the steps of the PV value-chain:
Solar grade silicon production, ingot production and solar cell production: skilled staff with a clear background in chemistry, physics or related academic studies with a great level of specialization and knowledge in the PV sector.
PV system integrators: technicians for the integration of roof top mounted systems and engineers for the integration of ground mounted systems. In addition, highly skilled staff is required to provide services such as management, contracting, design and marketing issues.
Installation: qualified technicians.
Operation and maintenance: no academic or scientific background required.
Recycling of PV modules: qualified and trained staff in chemistry, physics or related academic studies and with a clear understanding of recycling issues in relation to solar cells, silver, glass, aluminium, foils, electrical components, copper and steel components.
Research and development: experienced scientists and engineers with a high level of specialization in photovoltaics.

Besides these general observations, companies active in the PV industry currently are setting basic requirements about the educational background of the employees working in the PV sector. According to these companies employees should have a multidisciplinary education, with detailed technical basic knowledge in one field (physics, electrical engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering) and an additional post-graduate training in photovoltaic energy. They highlight the importance of practical training in photovoltaics. They strongly recommend project oriented post-graduate education, lab courses where real practical experience can be obtained and external trainings in the industry.

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