Youths urged to consider career in energy sector with new degree

SINGAPORE: The Energy Market Authority (EMA) is introducing a dedicated power engineering course next year to train professional power engineers in Singapore.

The two—year full—time course is a collaboration between the Singapore Institute of Technology and Newcastle University, and targets diploma holders.

The programme aims to train specialised power engineers, who will work in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in Singapore.

The new course is scheduled to start in September next year.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Trade and Industry Minister S Iswaran made the announcement at an energy dialogue with some 170 tertiary students on Wednesday.

He said: "We know that in the next five to ten years there will be opportunities for new entrants to the market —— first because of growth in the sector, second because of people who are retiring.

"Engineering in particular is the mainstay of this sector, both in terms of its maintenance and operations, but also in terms of future innovation possibilities. You need that engineering and science foundation."

EMA said the power sector hires some 4,600 people today.

The authorities project that the sector will need 2,400 more technical professionals over the next 10 years.

EMA said the median age of the technical workforce in the power sector is 48 years, and less than 15 per cent is 35 years old or under.

During the dialogue, the students were asked in a snap poll if they were keen on a career in the energy sector.

Forty—three per cent of the students said "Yes", followed by 40 per cent who said, "It depends" while 17 per cent said "No".

But the students expressed keen interest in renewable energy, such as solar and wind power.

Half of the students said clean energy is the most compelling energy sector for a career.

This is far ahead of oil and gas, which was picked by less than 10 per cent of students.

— CNA/ck/fa