Qualification network provides start-up support for green energy in Lusatia

Berlin, 28 March 2022: Lausitz Energie Kraftwerke AG (LEAG), the Vereinigung für Betriebliche Bildungsforschung e.V. (IBBF) and the Bundesverband Erneuerbare Energie (BEE) are founding the "Qualifizierungsverbund in der Lausitz für Erneuerbare Energien" (QLEE). The aim of the qualification network is to support structural change in Lusatia and to open up new economic opportunities for companies in the region by providing needs-based and target group-orientated training and further education for their employees.
The joint project received funding approval from the German government's STARK programme at the end of 2021. This programme funds projects that support the transformation process towards an ecologically, economically and socially sustainable economic structure in coal-mining regions. At the beginning of March, the project initiators LEAG, BEE and IBBF met at the LEAG Conference Centre in Lübbenau for the kick-off and initiated the first measures for the development of the qualification network.
Against the backdrop of the decision to phase out coal-fired power generation and the simultaneous acceleration of the expansion of renewable energies
the project initiators see numerous future opportunities in the energy transition in a diverse and growing economic sector with new job profiles.
They want to help regional companies to open up new business areas on the basis of well-founded qualification programmes, to structure the necessary job profiles and to keep up to date with the constantly changing regulatory framework. The renewable energy sector has a great deal of expertise in dealing with transformations and new challenges, which is to be passed on as part of the qualification programme.
The joint strategic goal is to establish a functioning regional and sector-specific qualification network, explain the project initiators. This is intended to support companies in the region and their employees with further training to cope with structural change.

The aim is to provide targeted training opportunities in the area of new technologies, for example
for example in power generation and in the transmission and storage of energy
energy, for example, for employees in Lusatia.
This is intended to support the development and retention of skilled labour in Lusatia.
be supported. This is also an opportunity to completely reposition the region economically
and thus establish it as a model region for the whole of Europe.
"Our energy company is one of the largest training organisations in Brandenburg and Saxony
and Saxony, which has been recognised for its excellent quality on several occasions.
We have been operating a qualification centre in Lübbenau for many years for
and further training centre with a special focus on the energy industry. And
As a company, we ourselves are in the midst of a transition towards a significantly
higher proportion of renewable energy generation. These are qualifications
and experience that we will contribute to the qualification network,"
explains LEAG Board Member for Human Resources Jörg Waniek "With this project, we want to
make a concrete contribution to successfully shaping the structural change in Lusatia
Lusatia and also provide inspiration and examples for other affected regions.
other affected regions. We would also be delighted to gain further partners for
partners for the qualification network."
"With the jointly developed project idea, the German Renewable Energy Federation is emphasising the willingness of the renewable industries to take
to take concrete responsibility for the socio-economic issues arising from structural change. The energy transition offers broad employment opportunities.
It is important to us that the former coal regions retain their own strong value creation clusters in the modern renewable energy industry.
in the modern renewable energy industry. We therefore want to support the transfer of employment so that people can find a future in their home region," says Wolfram Axthelm, Managing Director of the German Renewable Energy Federation.
"In order to utilise the opportunities presented by the necessary structural change, employees need new skills for changed and new fields of activity,"
says Dr Michael Steinhöfel, Managing Director of the IBBF. "We want to make employees fit for change and open up career prospects for them in their home country by providing needs- and target group-orientated training that addresses the current requirements of modern workplaces and is implemented in attractive formats."
The QLEE will be based in Lübbenau. A joint web portal will support the networking of the individual players and thus contribute significantly to the project objective.