It is a truth universally acknowledged – apart from in the US perhaps – that we need to reduce carbon emissions quickly and significantly to stop the planet’s temperature rising to dangerously high levels.

Since 1982, the rate of warming is more than three times faster than it was in the years since 1850, with the last decade being the warmest on record.

Something has to change to reduce the impact of climate change and a key element of this is to stop burning fossil fuels and embrace more renewable energy sources.

There are few people who disagree with the principle even if there is debate over to what degree and how fast this should happen.

Green energy sources, such as solar and wind farms, hydro and nuclear power, are key elements in the battle to reduce climate change but there must be the infrastructure to cope with that generated energy. And here is the problem. To create these vital substations and energy hubs, you need designers and engineers and there is a worrying shortage of these skilled professionals.

Research by Skills England and related bodies has identified that engineering in the power industry is a critical high-priority skill area facing acute and growing shortages.

Socky Maila, Managing Director of Energypeople Ltd, said: “The electrical engineering sector is definitely one of the areas where there is a shortage.”

“We are increasingly required to recruit skilled engineers from outside the UK or sponsor those within the UK requiring the right to work visas. Historically, sourcing talent from within Europe was straightforward; prior to 2016 and before Brexit, it was possible to recruit highly experienced engineers from across the EU within a very short timeframe. It was common to advertise a role and fill it within a month. Following Brexit, however, the available talent pool has reduced significantly. This has made it more difficult to recruit not only from Europe but also from other parts of the world, increasing the pressure on our ability to resource projects effectively”.

In many ways, it is a perfect storm. The demand for electricity has never been higher from homes and businesses – and from drivers with about a quarter of cars in the UK now being electric.

But the network – the substations and grid – needs to grow accordingly. And that means being able to find the experts to do the job at a time when recruitment is already challenging.

Energypeople Ltd has 40 members of staff and that number is increasing as more are needed to work on projects. All the staff are based in the UK with a significant number working on Skilled Worker visas and others on graduate visas having completed their master’s degrees at universities. For graduates, it is becoming more difficult as the period of time they are allowed to work in the UK is set to be reduced from two years to 18 months.

Socky said: “A number of our competitors already outsource their work to other countries such as India and Malaysia. We are not at that stage yet but we are looking at it to ensure we are competitive in an increasingly cost sensitive market. The operational costs in these regions are substantially lower than those in the UK.”

Energypeople Ltd would also like to see more homegrown talent in the UK.

Consultant Simon Faiers, who has a has a wealth of experience of managing change in the energy industry, said: “The need for more engineers in the energy industry is recognised as priority by the government but it is not getting the same publicity as construction although the same sort of issues are there.

“There is an unprecedented requirement to reinforce and modernise the electricity infrastructure and there really should be more focus on electrical engineering in further and higher education.

“That is what companies like ours need, or we are left having to recruit skilled engineers from other parts of the world. It is nice to have homegrown talent and we believe there is a compelling need to increase funding to support electrical engineering.”

Energypeople has taken on an apprentice and believe more companies and colleges should support this route.

Socky also believes it is an issue of perception. “In Europe, in countries including Germany and Holland, electrical engineers use protected professional titles indicating their qualifications. They are viewed as professionals and I think that is important for young people.

“Energy is a vital industry and we need the professionals to do the job.”