Voice for workforce skills in energy and infrastructure
1 July 2026
From the Energy and Infrastructure Industry Skills Board
New Zealand's energy sector has long wrestled with the same challenge: getting the right people, with the right skills, at the right time. A new organisation has been established to help fix that problem.
The Energy and Infrastructure Industry Skills Board (ISB) is one of eight ISBs that came into existence at the start of 2026 as part of a significant reset of how vocational education works in New Zealand.
We cover energy, water, civil infrastructure, and extractives – the sectors that keep our country running. The ISB gives industry a direct role in shaping how the people who work in these sectors are trained and qualified.
Our job is to ensure that industry can see its needs reflected in the system, provide advice to the Government on workforce needs, and support clearer pathways into technical and specialist roles.
This means working directly with employers, industry bodies like GasNZ, and training providers to review qualifications, develop new standards, and ensure the system keeps pace with how the sector is evolving.
This year, our work will span qualification reviews across the energy and infrastructure sectors, supporting workforce initiatives like Re-Energise 26, and secondary school topics – a significant new piece of work to design at least eight new industry-led subjects focused on specific industries.
Budget 2026 included $15 million for Industry Skills Boards to develop these subjects, and our ISB is leading the curriculum development for energy and infrastructure within the replacement for NCEA, rolling out from 2028.
As our chief executive, Philip Aldridge, says, "If students are learning skills the market needs, and can see where those skills lead, we build a stronger pipeline.” For the gas and wider energy sector, it's an opportunity to show students what the sector offers while they're still mapping out their future careers.
Our aim is to focus on doing a few things well - reviewing qualifications that need improvement, working to make it easier for industry to engage and influence the system, and improving training outcomes across our sectors.
The Industry Advisory Groups (IAG) that will guide our focus are now confirmed, bringing together experienced people from across the energy, water, civil infrastructure and extractives sectors to make sure industry insights shape our work.
Two GasNZ members are represented on the Energy IAG – Bruce Monk, Principal Engineer Renewable Gas at Powerco, and Greg McBain, Training Manager at Genesis.
Greg McBain says that to keep the energy sector growing, the training system has to at the very least keep up.
“That means people who know the sector shaping it from the inside, and that's what the Energy IAG does, bringing together engineers, training managers and workforce leads from across gas, electricity and the wider energy sector."
Beyond the IAGs, we want to hear from the wider gas sector too. There will be opportunities to contribute through targeted consultation processes on qualifications as that work gets underway, and we're planning bi-monthly Industry Conversations webinars – a regular forum for sector voices to feed directly into our work.
Broad engagement across the sector is a priority for the ISB.
In the meantime, feel free to reach out to our stakeholder manager Sue Hawkins if you have any questions or want to get involved.
The more clearly we understand what industry needs, the more effectively we can support a system that delivers the right capabilities at the right time.
If you want to stay across what we're working on, subscribe to our monthly newsletter Grid and Ground, follow us on LinkedIn, check out our website, or reach out to us directly. We’re keen to hear from you.
Links:
1. Re-energise26 – https://energyinfra-skills.nz/re-energise-26/
2. Sue Hawkins email – sue.hawkins@energyinfra-skills.nz
3. Newsletter link – https://energyinfra-skills.nz/subscribe/
4. LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/energy-infra-skills/posts/
5. Website – https://energyinfra-skills.nz
6. Contact us page - https://energyinfra-skills.nz/contact-us/