On May 15, a joint public webinar, "Electrifying Europe: Perspectives from the Industry and Grid Operators on Skilled Workforce as a Supply Chain Bottleneck," brought together high-level voices from across Europe's energy ecosystem to address one of the most pressing challenges in the energy transition: the growing shortage of skilled workers.
Jointly hosted by Entso-E, T&D Europe, DSO Entity, and Europacable, the event highlighted the growing recognition of workforce development as a key enabler in accelerating the deployment of critical energy infrastructure—from renewables and storage to grid modernization and cybersecurity.
In his opening remarks, Branislav Pilat (Entso-E) emphasized the urgency: "The energy transition will stall without the people to deliver it. This is no longer a future risk—it's a current roadblock."
The European Commission, represented by Ilija Jovančević (DG ENER), reaffirmed the EU's commitment to building a "Union of Skills," calling for coordinated investment in education, re-skilling, and labor mobility to support the energy system of tomorrow.
Concrete examples from operators and manufacturers showcased promising initiatives.
Participants agreed that scaling such initiatives requires long-term policy support, stable investment, and greater collaboration between public and private sectors.
Furthermore, this sentiment was supported by the stakeholders. More than 150 stakeholders attended the two-hour session, engaging in a lively Q&A and proposing next steps to address the workforce challenge at EU and national levels. 96% of the participants highlighted that the skilled workforce shortage is already affecting progress and slowing down future targets for energy transition. 71% of the participants agreed that national governments, European institutions, industry and grid operators, and academia should work together to solve the workforce challenge.
Entso-E, T&D Europe, DSO Entity, and Europacable will share the outcome at the Energy Infrastructure Forum (Copenhagen Forum) 2025 and continue knowledge sharing on this key topic for the whole electricity ecosystem.
If you wish to view the recorded webinar, you can do so at the link here.
For more information:
ENTSO-E
www.entsoe.eu/