Stefanie Müller (Alterric), Dominique Guillou (LEAG Renewables) and Wolfram Axthelm (BWE) (from left to right) discussed the topic of "The changing wind industry - consequences for personnel and qualification" at the Spreewind Days. They discussed the political framework conditions for wind energy, new strategies in recruiting and success factors for the transformation of jobs from fossil fuels to renewable energies. The event was moderated by Christoph Schwarzer.

Wolfram Axthelm: Positive results from the coalition committee
Up-to-date policy briefing on the coalition committee's resolutions on the power plant strategy: Wolfram Axthelm came to the forum directly from the Bundestag and was able to report positive news. The tendering volumes for renewable energies remain stable and the plans of Economics Minister Katharina Reiche for reserve power plants will now be realised as already envisaged by Robert Habeck: tenders for gas-fired power plants with a capacity of 8 GW "H2-ready" are to take place in 2026; in addition, an additional 2 GW will be open to all technologies, with large-scale storage explicitly addressed. Wolfram Axthelm also outlined good framework conditions for more employment in wind energy beyond these resolutions. He sees the monitoring report as a good basis for entering into a dialogue with the German government and solving system issues. The industry should not be driven crazy by the advisory mandate for the further development of the investment framework for renewable energies: this will hardly be relevant for the 2026 EEG amendment. The EEG amendment must be finalised in five months' time so that the law can come into force on time. The wind industry and the renewables sector must act clearly and in a unified manner in the political debate so that the 2026 EEG amendment can successfully set the course for the future. The number of licences and the expansion of onshore wind energy are fully on track. Even in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, the number of proposals has risen sharply and the approval times have fortunately fallen. Federal legislation has had an effect. The energy transition is proving to be a job engine even in times of economic crisis. According to the Bertelsmann Foundation study from March 2025, jobs in the areas of energy infrastructure and renewable energies have increased. The picture is not uniform. The recent strong growth of companies in the sector, especially the large project developers, poses the challenge of establishing new processes as well as management and organisational structures. And in the coming years, the many approved projects will start to be realised, meaning that the need for personnel in the areas of implementation - construction, logistics, grid connection - will also become apparent.

Dominique Guillou: How the energy transition can succeed regionally
Dominique Guillou reported that the transformation of the lignite region in Lusatia shows how the energy transition can be implemented in relation to a region. In the "GigawattFactory", photovoltaic and wind energy plants, large-scale battery storage systems, grid infrastructure and heat supply for municipalities are being created. And all of this will be intelligently controlled as an innovative power plant park in order to make electricity reliably available. The conversion should develop into a decisive location factor and thus enable new industrial settlements - and new jobs. Around 50% of the employees at LEAG Renewables have been transferred from the lignite sectors and now work primarily in asset management, administrative areas and regional stakeholder management. Important prerequisites were an agreement with company co-determination, academic appointments and retraining measures. It is a challenge to motivate employees who are used to fixed structures for the agile renewables sector. LEAG's projects are mainly located on the company's own land, many of which are dismantling sites from lignite mining, and they are not perceived as a nuisance due to the large distance from residential areas. Accordingly, there would be a high level of acceptance among the population for the construction of the new plants. The transformation of the lignite mining region into a region of renewables has got off to a good start. However, what is needed here is exactly what the industry as a whole needs: stable political goals, a reliable framework for investment and successful cooperation between the federal, state and local authorities.

Stefanie Müller: How job profiles and recruitment are changing for project developers
In her contribution, Stefanie Müller begins by outlining the industry-wide development of job profiles in project development. While project developers used to be able to realise wind farms largely independently and only had to coordinate a few interfaces, the increasing complexity of projects has led to a significant differentiation: Initially, specialised roles such as land acquisition agents emerged, followed later by further specialisations for approval, construction and commissioning. Today, many companies rely on clearly separated responsibilities along the entire project progression in order to meet the increased requirements. These changes also have an impact on recruitment: There are hardly any degree programmes or clear training paths that are a perfect fit for the specialised profiles. Companies are therefore increasingly looking for candidates with high development potential that they can train internally. Entry routes are becoming more diverse and, depending on the role, junior employees need several years to fully familiarise themselves with the complex tasks. Using Alterric as an example, Stefanie Müller shows that these general industry trends are also making themselves felt, but that the organisational implementation can take different forms. Here too, the specific skills requirements of each role make it challenging to find suitable candidates directly on the market. This is why Alterric is also focussing heavily on potential, lateral entry and internal qualification in its recruiting. In the newly founded BWE working group on personnel and recruiting, co-spokesperson Stefanie Müller, companies in the industry are now exchanging ideas on joint measures to make job profiles more attractive, to make qualification paths more visible and to promote industry-wide solutions for recruiting personnel. After all, it will only be possible to attract more young talent and career changers to the wind energy sector if many companies join forces.