THE boss of Scottish Power has told youngsters to skip college or university and start earning instead.
The energy giant is hiring thousands of workers to roll out cable lines across the country.
Keith Anderson told Sun Business when we visited its Dealain House facility in Cumbernauld, Dunbartonshire, that the firm needs to expand its workforce from around 6,500 to 11,000 within the next six years.
The hiring spree comes as Scottish Power pumps £24billion into the grid network to ensure the UK can rely on electricity and shift away from gas as part of the Government’s 2030 Clean Power push.
Mr Anderson wants to bring in more 16-year-old apprentices straight from school so they can start earning, learning and adding to the economy.
He said one of the challenges the economy faced was “people telling you that having a degree, whatever you get a degree in, is more valuable than an apprenticeship”.
The power boss is talking to the Westminster and Scottish governments about setting up huge training sites for a wartime-style recruitment effort for the entire grid sector.
Scottish Power is already trying to attract workers at the INEOS Grangemouth refinery, which is shutting next year, and hiring others from bust builder ISG.
Mr Anderson said: “We can retrain anybody.
“We’ve had long haul truck drivers, we don’t care, bring it on.”
It is hiring across the whole of the UK, not just Scotland, as it rolls out over 50 miles of overhead electricity pylon lines and cables to take power from wind farms and other sites to where it’s needed.
Mr Anderson said the work was crucial because, while the UK had been faster than others to switch to renewable energy, its pace of investment in networks had stalled.
The power boss added: “We need to massively speed up and accelerate the development of the grid.”
He said the UK’s desire to attract more tech firms with data centres and become a world leader in AI will require huge amounts of electricity.
More will be needed for Labour’s housebuilding targets and the switch to electric cars.
An AI data centre needs up to 400 megawatts of energy, with one site using as much as a city the size of Liverpool or Glasgow, he added.
Mr Anderson said Labour’s clean power 2030 push was “from an engineering point of view, absolutely possible”.
But he said it must be achieved in that time if the UK stood any chance of also hitting its Net Zero 2050 ambitions.
ASHLEY HAS LIGHT TASK
ASHLEY Alison worked in her family’s garage before applying to be a Scottish Power trainee two years ago.
Ashley, 36, now keeps the lights on by fixing power faults in Kilmarnock.
Ex-mechanic Graeme Boyle, 41, used to handle car batteries but now it’s 11,000-volt lines.
Michael Shirra, 33, trained with chefs, plumbers and a City trader.
The firm will soon lift school leavers’ pay but apprentices currently start on £20,000, earning £28,500 in their last year of training.
HEATHROW is splashing out £2.3billion over the next two years, £244million more than it forecast, on upgrading its baggage handling and making departures and arrivals more punctual.
It also aims to “boost cycling and walking to the airport”.
BILLIONS TO HIT TARGET
SCOTTISH Power is one of three energy firms investing tens of billions over the next five years in the dash to meet the Clean Power 2030 target.
National Grid yesterday unveiled plans to invest £35billion in maintaining and upgrading its networks, pipes and increasing network capacity.
Last week SSE said it would pump £22.3billion into infrastructure.
The investment could support 100,000 new jobs in the three firm’s supply chains.
KNEAD TO TRAVEL
PIZZAEXPRESS has revealed plans to open its first US site next year in Florida.
The chain, which began in London’s Soho in 1965, has 360 pizzerias in the UK and 100 international sites.
Boss Paula McKenzie wants to hit 1,000 restaurants globally by 2030 — and is working with a US franchisee in Tampa.
Ms McKenzie revealed its popular American Hot pizza came about because founder Peter Boizot had a Texan girlfriend.
She added: “With this link, our launch in America tastes a whole lot better!”
POSTIES’ JOB DEAL
THE workers’ union for Royal Mail has agreed a series of commitments with its Czech billionaire buyer.
The Government approved Daniel Kretinsky’s £3.6billion takeover by his EP Group.
A reform of the Universal Service Obligation could mean there are job cuts, but only “as a last resort”, unions said.
The CWU said EP committed to not run Royal Mail as a “gig economy” employer, to not establish a separate company and to review posties’ bonus and sick pay.
Commitments will be reviewed in 2028.
HONDA & NISSAN IN LINK TALK
Honda and Nissan have started merger talks about a deal to create the world’s third-biggest car maker.
A tie-up of two Japanese firms would pool their scale and resources at a time when they are both coming under intense pressure from Tesla and cheap Chinese rivals, such as BYD.
A deal between Honda and Nissan would create a £36billion car giant, but still pale next to Tesla’s £1.1trillion.
The two Japanese giants had combined global sales of 7.4million vehicles last year and have agreed to co-operate on working together on EV technology and batteries.
News of the talks comes amid weak sales of electric cars to ordinary drivers, while the motor industry also faces increasing regulation.
Rivals such as Stellantis and Ford have already been cutting jobs to cope with the rapidly changing industry.
BIG SLUMP IN OUTPUT
MANUFACTURING output has fallen at the fastest pace since the start of the pandemic due to a “collapse” in confidence since the Budget.
Factory volumes fell sharply in the three months to December with a balance of -25 per cent from -12 per cent in the quarter to November, says a CBI survey.
CBI economist Ben Jones said manufacturers had faced a perfect storm of weakening demand and increased costs.
