Leading energy experts say that their industry is facing a serious skills shortage, according to a new survey.

The Doosan Babcock ‘Energy Pulse’ survey, polled 500 UK energy experts and found that that 87% of believed that the UK is facing a serious skills shortage.

Iain Miller, Chief Executive Officer, Doosan Babcock says, “The Energy White Paper went some way to tackling issues such as security of supply and the potential energy gap but there is clearly an increasing unease amongst energy experts about the ability of the industry to implement all the investment required.

“To put this in context, the energy sector is competing for the same skills that will be needed for the 2012 Olympics and other infrastructure projects so we really need a clear commitment to skills within the energy sector if we are to support the necessary new build and retrofits needed to avert a generation gap.”

Half of industry respondents felt that skills shortages were due to a lack of government support or investment.