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European Association of Electrical Contractors

AIE EuropeOn

Formed in 1954, the European Association of Electrical Contractors – AIE/EuropeOn– comprises 18 national associations representing electrical contractor companies based in Europe.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Kurt Vandenberghe (Director-General Climate Action) and Transport and Environment (European Federation for Transport and Environment) and

29 Nov 2024 · Recommendations for an Electrification Action plan in Europe

Meeting with Maroš Šefčovič (Executive Vice-President) and

22 Feb 2024 · Clean Transition Dialogue on Clean Technologies

Meeting with Ditte Juul-Joergensen (Director-General Energy) and BUSINESSEUROPE and

22 Feb 2024 · Energy market

Meeting with Kadri Simson (Commissioner) and

23 Oct 2023 · Roundtable meeting with 10 Secretary Generals and CEOs of the Electrification Alliance on the revised Renewable Energy Directive (revised REDII), electricity market design, grids and storage.

Meeting with Kadri Simson (Commissioner) and

20 Jun 2023 · Presentation of new report on smart electrification.

Meeting with Ciarán Cuffe (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

2 Feb 2023 · EPBD

Meeting with Marc Angel (Member of the European Parliament)

11 Jan 2023 · European Year of Skills

Response to European Year of Skills 2023

14 Dec 2022

EuropeOn and GCP Europe, respectively representing electrical and mechanical contractors across Europe, together represent the professionals qualified to make the green and digital transition happen on the ground, by installing and maintaining clean and renewable technologies. We totalise a massive amount of professionals in Europe (1.8 million workers only for the electrical contracting sector). While we expect job creation in our sectors to rise thanks to the Green Deal and due to the pressing paradigm shift induced by REPowerEU, we however report worrying difficulties to find candidates. Therefore, we welcome the European Year of Skills. This is a bold yet lucid choice. It is bold because the Commission has limited competence on the matter. But it is very lucid given that an energy-secure and climate-neutral Europe relies of finding the right professionals without delay. The European Year of Skills has the potential to create a momentum by putting skills and workforce shortages at the top of Member States agendas. It can turn skills and workforce shortages to an opportunity : the creation of numerous sustainable, long-term, local, purposeful jobs in Europe. Indeed, this is not just about up-skilling, we will need to get onboard many workers from the next generation and from transitioning sectors. EuropeOn and GCP Europe are calling for the European Year of Skills to clearly focus on the skills and workers needed to deliver the green and digital transition. More specifically, it should address one key and often overlooked aspect: the lack of priority given to technical careers and education, despite their major impact on the success of the twin transition. Indeed, IRENA estimates that for both solar PV and onshore wind, over 70% of the jobs are located in the segments related to installation, operation and maintenance, which are mostly technical jobs! Across Europe, the conclusions are the same. Technical careers and education suffer from a lack of investment and attractivity, which are intertwined issues that will ultimately jeopardise the Green Deal and REPowerEU objectives as well as our economies ability to provide new and exciting careers for all. To sum up, EuropeOn and GCP Europe are calling on the Commission to use the European Year of Skills to urge and inspire Member States to promote and incentivise technical careers and education. This could include: - launching a Union-wide awareness campaign on the doers of REPowerEU that could inspire bespoke national campaigns, - gathering Member States, social partners, education institutions, academia and all relevant stakeholders in a Skills Summit focused on technical careers in the Green Deal and REPowerEU. Both asks are reflected in the Parliaments report on the Energy Efficiency Directive, article 26, adopted last July. Besides, we draw the Commissions attention on another proposal from the Parliament (in both reports on the Renewable Energy Directive, article 18, and Energy Efficiency Directive, article 26), requiring Member States to regularly assess the gap between available and needed installations professionals. Quantifying the recruitment needs will prepare Member States to take appropriate action and would be a considerable achievement for the European Year of Skills. EuropeOn and GCP Europe are at the Commissions disposal to support any action/event along those lines. We will host relevant events in 2023, e.g. during the EU Sustainable Energy Week and at our Installers Summit in November. Our suggestions are in line with EuropeOns Skills4Climate letter that was co-signed by 18 like-minded associations and sent to President von der Leyen in March 2022 (see annex).
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Meeting with Anouk Faber (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit), Christoph Nerlich (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit)

30 Nov 2022 · Meeting on the Pact for Skills

Meeting with Anouk Faber (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit), Christoph Nerlich (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit), Santina Bertulessi (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit) and EPIA SolarPower Europe

13 Jul 2022 · Renewable energies, Labour market and skills

Response to EU Solar Energy Communication

12 Apr 2022

EuropeOn, the European association of electrical contractors and installers, welcomes the initiative of the European Commission to publish a Strategy dedicated to solar energy. Accelerating the deployment of solar power is of the highest importance in order to reach the EU’s goals for both climate and energy independence and requires strategic planning. The necessity to phase out fossil energy imports, especially from Russia, has now added on to the urgency of climate action to make the increase of renewable capacity within Europe the top priority. Phasing out fossil fuels and switching to decentralised renewables is highly beneficial to our economy by lowering costly imports and creating green jobs, to our climate goals which hinge on renewable electrification, to our air and environment that won’t be polluted by burning fossil fuels, and to our consumers who’ll be able to become energy prosumers. However, these benefits will only be attainable if the pace of the deployment of solar can be increased to match our ambitions, which entails coordinated action on multiple fronts. One of the main issues affecting the deployment of solar PV centres on the installation workforce. We need both to increase the numbers of installers to meet the growing demand as well as to equip them with an enhanced skillset to reap the full benefits of solar installations thanks to an efficient integration within buildings’ energy systems. Securing the sufficient and adequately trained workforce is not a short-term endeavour. Solar PV installations must be safe and should be integrated with other technologies such as electric storage, electric heating or EV charging. This requires professionals with the specific skillset to safely and efficiently integrate those devices and make the most of the energy produced on-site. Electrical contractors have also reported supply chains issues making it difficult to procure building materials critical to renewable installations (especially containing electronic components) which will need to be addressed in this Strategy. Also, electrical contractors often face more barriers on the ground such as difficult procedures to obtain building permits to set up solar installations on roofs. More effort is needed to streamline administrative and permitting procedures linked to rooftop installations, grid connections, renewable energy communities and collective self-consumption. Finally, electrical contractors are too often confronted with ageing electrical wiring and electrical installations that are not able to support the integration of solar with electric heating or EV charging. This aspect is too often overlooked and needs to be considered to a greater extent when incentivising energy renovations and prosumer installations. EuropeOn has already written to the Commission President and proposed actions that will contribute to address the workforce shortage: • The revision of the Fit for 55 Package should require Member States to assess the gap between available and needed installation professionals to achieve EU climate and energy objectives. • An ambitious EU campaign must be launched to change mindsets across Europe and enhance the attractiveness of technical/vocational education and careers in the twin transitions. • Setting up a “Skills4Climate/ Climate crafters Platform”, similarly to the “Just Transition Platform”, is key to gather Member States, social partners, academia and all relevant EU and national stakeholders. The full feedback can be found in the attached document.
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Meeting with Anouk Faber (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit), Christoph Nerlich (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit)

8 Sept 2021 · Meeting on skills and the attractiveness of the electrical contracting sector in Europe.

Meeting with Christoph Nerlich (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit)

1 Jul 2021 · European Construction Sector: Opportunities for new talent

Meeting with Katherine Power (Cabinet of Commissioner Mairead Mcguinness)

15 Feb 2021 · EU Taxonomy

Meeting with Nicolas Schmit (Commissioner) and

27 Nov 2020 · Pact for Skills roundtable with the construction sector.

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and

27 Nov 2020 · High Level Roundtable - Skills for the Construction Sector

Meeting with Anouk Faber (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit), Christoph Nerlich (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit)

13 Jul 2020 · Meeting on Skills for Climate and Green Recovery.

Response to Climate Law

6 Feb 2020

EuropeOn, representing the European electrical contracting sector, is fully committed to a climate-neutral EU by 2050. EuropeOn welcomes this initiative and envisions electrification as the main strategy for climate neutrality, all the while driving growth for EU businesses, empowering consumers, as well as providing for a competitive and future-proof EU economy. The Climate law, with its strong climate neutrality objective, will guide the EU in the energy transition and unlock the industrial potential of the green economy. This initiative will guarantee predictability for businesses such as electrical contractors and a bright future for sustainable activities. Electrical contractors represent the manpower responsible for electric and climate-mitigating installations. Their installations contribute to the competitive attainment of the objectives set out in the roadmap and enable consumers to take part in the energy transition as follows: For buildings: · Modern electrical installations allow for more energy efficiency and savings, notably through smart buildings featuring advanced energy management systems. · Consumers can become prosumers with decentralised renewable power generation. Not only does this contribute to a higher share of renewables in our electricity mix, distributed generation does that without placing a further burden on the grid. · The system-wide impact of prosumers is enabled through demand response solutions, empowering consumers to become active stakeholders our energy systems. · The integration of electro-mobility into the built environment will support and complement the above-mentioned solutions. Acting as storage for excess renewables production or to provide grid services, electric vehicles can also become energy assets. For transport: · The key to the mass uptake of electric road transport is the deployment of a dependable network of charging infrastructure, to be installed swiftly in both homes and public spaces. · Electric ferries and barges for inland waterways are already in circulation and shore-side power supplies have already been deployed to reduce the emissions of maritime transport. For a competitive Europe: · Our sector provides around 1.8 million quality jobs across Europe. These are green, resilient and career jobs, in the middle to high section of the wage distribution. · Jobs in our sector are set to increase dramatically as climate action is ramped up and zero-emissions solutions are mainstreamed. However, in order to fulfill its role as indispensable steppingstone in the deployment of all electrical infrastructure, the electrical contracting sector’s human capital needs to be considered. Electrical contractors are currently experiencing recruitment difficulties, and most have open vacancies for skilled workers. Regulators should ensure that the skills gap and number of vacancies do not increase as demand for zero-emission solutions grows, following more stringent climate norms. Additionally, the digital transformation comes with great potential but will mandate specific considerations regarding human capital and data flows. Digital technologies and processes will become the norm and it is paramount that our professionals are equipped with the skills-base to reap its benefits. Data should be the focus of regulatory attention so as to make it available to installers of digital equipment and infrastructure as well as providing the latter with the adequate skills to harness its efficiency potential. EuropeOn believes the European Climate Law will pave the way for a competitive energy transition, provided the climate neutrality objective is mainstreamed across EU policies such as skills and digital policies.
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Meeting with Ditte Juul-Joergensen (Director-General Energy) and EPIA SolarPower Europe and

6 Nov 2019 · Keynote speech : powering the European Green Deal

Meeting with Dominique Ristori (Director-General Energy) and Fédération française des Intégrateurs Electriciens and Syndicat des entreprises de la transition énergétique et numérique

26 Feb 2019 · Le potentiel lié à la performance énergétique des bâtiments et des nouvelles technologies en Europe, y.c. ventilation, chauffage et climatisation.