Why the Netherlands Can’t Find Enough Engineers For The Energy Transition

The Netherlands is a leader in renewable energy growth, yet it’s struggling to execute the next phase. The shortage of engineers is becoming the real bottleneck. Not the funding or the technology. It’s the talent.

With regulatory boards cracking down on climate targets and the respective infrastructure rollout, it’s putting a lot of pressure on the industry to play catch-up.

And to top it all off, the share of electricity generation through renewables in the Netherlands has been growing year on year, sitting at about 47% in 2023 from just 3% in 2000.

So, if you’ve ever wondered, “Are engineers in demand?”, the short answer is yes, probably more than ever in energy-related roles.

The scale of the shortage of engineers in the Netherlands

When we look at the energy sector, it’s quite a buzz among the industries these days. Governments around the globe are striving to create sustainable, energy-efficient ecosystems for us to thrive in. We’ve seen it with the introduction of automation and the respective engineers in the building automation systems industry.

There’s a shortage of these engineers as it is, but when you look at the engineers who specialise in the energy sector, now that’s quite niche.

The existing labour market is extremely tight, and the number of available vacancies outweighs the number of experienced workers. The problem? Demand continues to rise, faster than the supply of experienced engineers.

This is only made worse by the fact that the grid itself can’t keep up. New housing construction in the Netherlands is becoming increasingly difficult because there’s simply no capacity to connect new neighbourhoods to the grid.

In Utrecht, Gelderland and Flevoland alone, some 200,000 new homes are under threat due to an impending freeze on new connections.

Key causes behind the shortage

A large portion of experienced engineers are nearing retirement, and there’s a loss of institutional knowledge, which is worsening the gap. More engineers are leaving the workforce than entering the field.

Fewer students seem to be entering technical fields. Institutions just don’t seem to be producing enough practical or specialised graduates to cope with demand. It’s a general issue across the world: the trades aren’t being prioritised in educational systems.

There’s also a skills mismatch. Transitioning into the energy sector requires new competencies, and graduates often lack practical or specialised experience. The experience side and the skills side just aren’t meeting halfway.

And then there’s the fact that “money talks.” Engineers often get pulled into tech, software, or other high-paying sectors, and energy struggles to compete on attractiveness. While those sectors offer higher salaries right off the bat, the energy sector is underestimated in that respect. Rest assured; if you stick with it, you’ll never be short on opportunities.

What needs to change?

Adjacent industries need to start upskilling and reskilling workers by improving technical education and vocational pathways, and retaining experienced engineers for longer.

If local prospects have been exhausted, appealing to international talent is worth considering. And the process should be prioritised from the early stages, meaning the younger workforce.

Better collaboration needs to be put in place between government, industry, and education systems to champion the trades and the limitless future they hold.

No engineers, no energy transition

The Netherlands has the investment, the ambition, and the policy framework for the energy transition, but not enough engineers to deliver. This shortage slows down progress until the industry is left playing catch-up under even more pressure.

Tying back to the burning question: are engineers in demand?

The answer is yes, and in the Netherlands, that demand is now structurally outpacing supply. Without urgent action to train, attract, and retain engineering talent, the energy transition risks stalling before it truly gets off the ground.

We’ve got the solution: talented South African engineers ready for relocation. Afrikaans translates well into Dutch, making communication easy.