Why an MSP can help fight back against the Skills Shortage across the US Clean Energy Movement

Despite the reliance on hydrocarbons and oil and gas products, the growth of renewable projects continues to grow across the United States. This has been buoyed by tax incentives and subsidies available to companies in the industry in recent years. With some renewable energy fairing less well with the recent introduction of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the US renewables sector is still in reasonably good health. 

Renewables in the US Overview

With renewables now supplying about a quarter of the USA’s electricity needs, there is still a long way to go to increase green outputs throughout the energy transition, and reduce the reliance on oil and gas. Sectors that are showing signs of continued strong growth include solar and battery storage, with solar in particular being the stand out, where it doubled its capacity during 2024 in comparison to 2023.

Battery storage is also surging, with approximately 15 GW of new capacity delivered in 2024. The US is also a world leader when it comes to planned and operational carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, with more than triple the number of projects than its nearest rival.

Wind capacity has largely plateaued, contributing a substantial share of renewable energy generation but seeing slower recent growth due to transmission and policy challenges.

Trouble Ahead?

Despite this, renewable projects in the US continue to grow, so can anything halt the progress of the juggernaut that is the emerging US clean energy sector?

In a word, yes.

Despite the sector burgeoning, with a myriad of CCS and solar projects popping up across the country as it targets 100 per cent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030, it is facing a crisis. The recent rapid growth of the sector is threatening to falter due to a skills shortage. Put simply, there are just not enough qualified people in-country to meet the growing demand and help energy companies maximise the vast opportunities on offer.

The rapid growth has not only resulted in a severe staffing shortage. The skills squeeze has pushed companies into hiring resources from the same pool, which is affecting staff retention rates, remuneration costs and, crucially, is doing nothing to expand the long-term talent pipeline.

To find a solution, Orion Group has been working closely with clients to transition resources from other industries and locations. By attracting people from other sectors, and upskilling them, clients can take a step back from the costly scramble for qualified talent that pitches renewables players against each other. It’s a time served and proven method for emerging industries, but implementing such a program requires careful planning and coordination that traditional recruitment methods do not provide.

Fight Back Against the Skills Shortage

Through the implementation of a collaborative global talent pipeline, our Managed Service Provider (MSP) program assists clients in attracting people from other sectors across the globe, in a strategic and managed way. By outsourcing recruitment via our MSP program, clients can leverage best practice, including candidate attraction, global mobility, sector transitions, innovative re-skilling, mentoring, incentivised delivery, workforce planning, redeployment and retention strategies.

Our MSP program allows clients to engage an expanded network of recruitment firms at the same time, consolidating reporting, vacancy management, screening, selection and candidate coordination, removing a huge administrative burden from their workload.

Introducing a bespoke technology platform, our team documents the deliverables, processes, and incentives. Analytics and key performance indicators are used on an ongoing basis to enhance service delivery, establish set outcomes and share cross-project learning.

Key Benefits of a Robust MSP

In order to bring maximum value to clients - providing a constant stream of qualified people where and when they’re needed - our MSP solutions are 100% flexible. They can be adjusted to enhance a variety of key areas:

• Skills and experience selection
• Past worker tracking
• Keyword search tagging and SEO
• Niche hiring pre-qualification
• Validation of pooled candidates
• Resource planning
• Supplier partnering
• Market intelligence
• Diverse labour markets

The benefits of a well-executed MSP program are numerous. Clients enjoy a host of measurable wins, including improved attraction, reduction in costs and drastically decreased hiring times. Consistent screening, selection and on-boarding also improve resourcing effectiveness.

Drawing on decades of recruitment industry experience, and building on the many long term client relationships we already enjoy, we believe that MSP programs can play a vital role in providing a constant stream of new talent to service the US clean energy sector.

With talent pool expansion activities optimised, clients will see their potential pool of talent widen from local to global (taking advantage of Orion’s vast cross-sector reach), while long term workforce planning will help safeguard the sector’s future.

Ready to Take Control of Your Workforce?

If you want to master your workforce strategy and avoid the pitfalls of a poorly managed MSP, we would welcome the opportunity to show you how Orion Group makes the difference.

Talk to our Orion ISP team today to see how our flexible, technology-driven MSP recruitment solutions can transform your hiring, compliance and supplier management.

Let’s build a workforce strategy that works for you.

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