Just Transition Policies, Power Plant Workers and Green Entrepreneurs in Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria: Can Education and Retraining Meet the Challenge?

This study seeks to shed light on the changes currently occurring in Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria on the energy transition process by examining the relevant consequences for power plant workers in the green energy market. The main aim of this paper is to explore the impacts of the implemented policies on the labour force of electricity generation stations and to identify learning needs for new skills and competences. Thus, it explores the possibility to achieve a just transition by employing workers from the high-carbon energy sector to the renewable energy sector. Qualitative research was carried out to explore the views and expectancies of the above-mentioned people as well as to trace the perceptions of the stakeholders of the green energy industry. A total of 30 semi-structured interviews were conducted in the previously mentioned three countries, which also investigated relevant training and upskilling programmes. The findings revealed various types of educational needs and techniques that can be applied by training providers in accordance to the power plant worker’s views as well as the disciplines and specialities of the workforce that are suitable to receive the further fit for attending such programmes. Workers in Greece and Cyprus appeared more optimistic for this possibility compared to Bulgarian workers. Green entrepreneurs were also optimistic but worried for the rate of investments in the green sector. The current findings describe the backdrop that challenges future retraining programmes with regard to achieving just transition policies for this workforce.