India is currently building one of the world\u2019s largest renewables workforces. The Council on Energy, Environment and Water estimates<\/a> that India\u2019s clean energy transition could generate more than 4.4 million jobs by 2030. As Prism\u2019s co-founder Nikhil Vaidya tells Dialogue Earth: \u201cIndia has quickly become one of the world\u2019s largest renewable energy talent hubs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Germany needs more skilled workers as it races to expand its installed solar capacity: the country aims to reach 215 GW<\/a> by 2030. Germany\u2019s Institute for Employment Research estimates that the wind power and photovoltaics sectors alone will need around 160,000<\/a> additional workers by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though Kadam found his own way to this job, India and Germany have been attempting to build a formal skills exchange channel for the renewables sector. The Germany Solar Association (BSW) and India\u2019s Skill Council for Green Jobs signed a memorandum of understanding in 2023 that envisaged placing at least 20 Indian Suryamitra<\/em> (trained solar technicians and electricians) in Germany\u2019s solar sector. As of July 2026, however, not one<\/a> Suryamitra placement had been verified via this framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the meantime, private recruiters have started building their own pipelines to connect Indian renewables professionals with overseas projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Reporting from both India and Germany, Dialogue Earth investigates this case study of international recruitment for the energy transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 2025 study<\/a> by the NewClimate Institute, a German research body, predicted labour shortages could soon become a constraint on the energy transition globally. To triple renewable power capacity by 2030, the number of workers in power generation worldwide may need to rise from 12.5 million (as of 2021) to 47 million, with much of the growth concentrated in manufacturing, installation and operations. \u201cEmerging economies benefit from younger populations and wage incentives in the energy transition sectors, but face education gaps and outflows of skilled workers,\u201d the study noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This goal came to prominence during COP28, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change\u2019s annual negotiations held in 2023<\/a>. At the summit, hosted by the UAE, 123 countries endorsed a pledge to both triple global renewable energy capacity and double the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The initiative was packaged by the COP28 presidency with a voluntary initiative to reduce carbon dioxide and methane emissions, which was signed by 50 oil and gas companies.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, India\u2019s renewables sector already supports nearly one million jobs, with photovoltaics accounting for the largest share. As India works towards its target<\/a> of 500 GW of non-fossil-fuel capacity by 2030, demand for skilled workers is only expected to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Germany has been lowering its formal barriers to skilled migration \u2013 at least on paper. Legislation active since 2023 enables an experience-based pathway<\/a> for qualified workers to join one of Germany\u2019s non-regulated professions, without the need for qualifications that formally match German standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These workers generally need at least two years of relevant professional experience from within the previous five years, a qualification recognised by the state in which it was issued, and a job offer meeting the applicable salary threshold of EUR 3,800 (USD 4,400) per month. German language proficiency is not a statutory requirement, although employers can impose their own language requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTechnically, this makes it possible for millions of workers from India to come here,\u201d says Moritz von Recklinghausen, founder and managing director of Green Professionals. His company, based in Berlin, recruits technicians and electricians from non-European Union countries, particularly India, and connects them directly with German renewable energy companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea won Green Professionals a EUR 150,000 grant from 10,000 Tage<\/a>. Launched in 2023, this programme creates pathways into green jobs using funds from Germany\u2019s federal education and research ministry. Green Professionals spent a year identifying and preparing Indian candidates, including helping them navigate German language training and skills recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As it turned out, finding workers was not the problem. Green Professionals ran into administrative hurdles following changes to labour regulations and, more significantly, reluctance among German employers to hire non-German speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lakshey Sehgal runs Climate Trainers, a company training professionals in India and Germany for the solar sector. It also advises Green Professionals on candidate selections. He calls this German language expectation from employers \u201cunrealistic\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey are also not paying the top-grade German salaries for such technicians, either,\u201d Sehgal tells Dialogue Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Sehgal, German solar and electrical firms offer Indian technicians around EUR 2,800 gross a month, or roughly EUR 1,750 after deductions. That may be enough for a single worker to relocate, he says, but difficult to support a family with. \u201cThey are better off working in the Middle East, where they can make better savings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Due to this recurring language hurdle, Green Professionals eventually changed its business model. Instead of recruiting Indian workers for other German companies, it has set up a company of its own, specialising in power lines, and began hiring workers directly. The company expects to bring 6-12 Indian workers to Germany this year. Their primary working language, according to Von Recklinghausen, will be Hindi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had interviewed around 2,000 people, from which Green Professionals scouted 25-30 people who were rock star electricians in their own way,\u201d says Sehgal. \u201cOnly two of them got placed in a German company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sehgal wishes to bring the rest to Germany, designing a six-month course to bridge the differences between Indian and German electrician training; Green Professionals planned to provide German-language modules and help candidates navigate other practical requirements. For example, obtaining German driving licences, which the company considers essential for many electrician jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Green Professionals\u2019 training programme, financed by 10,000 Tage, had a cohort of 25 participants. But differences between Indian and German qualification and certification systems made it difficult to assemble a sufficiently large group of candidates to progress through the programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Germany\u2019s new skilled immigration legislation has hit a fundamental stumbling block: the infrastructure needed to turn entry into employment remains difficult to navigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, some private recruitment companies are actively placing Indian renewables workers abroad. Dynamic Staffing Services, a Delhi-based recruiter with particular expertise in the German market, says it has placed more than 500 skilled Indian solar installers with German projects. The company provides employers with recruitment, training, visa and compliance support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other Indian renewable energy companies, as well as recruitment and training firms, are building international pathways for solar workers. Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy, for example, which recruits Indian professionals for international solar projects, operates across 28 countries. Meanwhile, companies such as Waaree have developed formal training and certification programmes for solar installers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another way German companies are partially filling their worker gap is through subcontracting. Sehgal says some of this labour is sourced through companies based in countries including Croatia and Bulgaria, which then deploy<\/a> workers to Germany. This labour includes<\/a> Indian workers who, according to Sehgal, can end up getting paid wages well below Germany\u2019s standard minimum for the trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond numbers shared by recruitment companies, there is no publicly available central database of Indian renewable energy professionals currently working overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In India, much of the renewables work remains informal. \u201cIf you look at rooftop solar, you need three or four people to set up the structure, and one electrician can manage multiple sites,\u201d explains Sehgal. \u201cInformal labourers are not on payrolls; companies call them as needed. Many companies don\u2019t even hire electricians full-time. They keep them as per the site requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kadam is keen to underline that the need to be adaptable makes India\u2019s renewables workforce well-prepared for international opportunities: \u201cIn India, one does multiple things in the solar sector. My designation was that of project engineer, but I also handled sales and marketing. There are multiple challenges in India: the space to work is limited; you have to ensure load is sustained properly; and because of the high-rise buildings in India, you need to be very careful with load management.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nMade in Germany<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The language gap<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
If you come here as a student, you have time to integrate and familiarise with the culture here but when you come here for jobs, the pressure to earn is quite high<\/blockquote>Akshay Kadam, mechanical engineer, Enviria<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The workaround<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/20260623_Two-young-trainees-test-a-solar-panel-at-a-Skill-Council-for-Green-Jobs-institute-in-India_Safina-Nabi.jpg\")
<\/div>India\u2019s dilemma<\/h2>\n\n\n\n