Scatec tops in hiring senior professionals in Africa

From the newsletter

Norwegian renewable energy company Scatec leads in senior staff hiring. Analysis from Renewables Rising tracked over 12 months shows that the company increased senior staff by 37%. The company has secured major renewable energy projects in South Africa and Egypt, and this could explain why they are hiring.

• The aggregate data collected shows a net increase of 297 senior employees across the ten companies surveyed, bringing the total staff number to 1,668. This is largely driven by increased projects and investments in renewables.

• However, the data also presents a contrasting trend. Globeleq, PowerGen Renewable Energy, and Distributed Power Africa have all recorded a reduction in staff numbers. This contraction could be attributed to various factors, including restructuring efforts, project completions, or a strategic shift towards leaner operational models.

More details

• Second on our list in hiring senior staff is CrossBoundary Energy. The firm invests in renewable energy projects in Africa with a focus on the supply of electricity to commercial and industrial consumers. It hired 78 staff members over the same period. The company this week signed a power purchase agreement to provide a 30 MW baseload renewable energy supply to the Kamoa-Kakula Copper mining complex in DRC, Africa’s first of its kind.

• South Africa’s Mulilo Energy ranks third with an additional 68 staff members. The company secured five battery storage projects and a 240 MW solar project in South Africa's latest bid windows in 2024. Just this March, it reached financial close for the 105 MW solar photovoltaic project in Northern Cape.

• The difference between the third company in hiring and the fourth is a significant 50 senior staff. ACWA Power, Jinko Solar and JA Solar hired 18, 15 and 9 people respectively. Interestingly, Jinko and JA Solar are solar manufacturing companies, though they currently have no plants in Africa.

• None of the companies we tracked stagnated in hiring. However, some , for one reason or the other , lost senior staff members. Globeleq, an independent power producer in Africa, lost one senior staff member. The company plans on intensifying operations in Kenya and South Africa for the fiscal year of 2025. It recently experienced a change in administration with the appointment of a new CEO. Other than that, the company has been complacent in project execution so far.

• Lastly, Distributed Power Africa, a solar energy solutions provider, struggled to retain employees. The company lost a net 1 of its employees, a third of their senior workforce. Most of these employees were absorbed by fellow energy companies, signalling the competitive need for professionals in the sector.

Our take

• Africa's renewable energy grab is ON. Scatec's massive 117 senior staff increase in a single year strongly indicates aggressive expansion and project development. This level of hiring suggests they are positioning themselves to capitalise significantly on the growing demand for renewable energy across Africa, mirroring a "gold rush" mentality to secure market share and deliver on a substantial project pipeline in several African countries.

• The significant loss of senior sales staff at Distributed Power Africa (DPA) cannot be ignored. A mass departure of sales professionals could indicate a change in focus away from aggressive expansion or even internal challenges in securing new business. This signals a possible shift in DPA's approach within the competitive African solar market, potentially prioritising consolidation over rapid growth.

• The hiring trends across the board demonstrate a sector actively investing in expertise to manage complex projects and long-term growth. Even the modest hiring by solar manufacturers like Jinko and JA Solar hints at the nascent but crucial development of local manufacturing capabilities. This collective strategic hiring signifies a maturing of the African renewable energy sector beyond just project installation towards more sophisticated operational and developmental strategies.