Electrician
Electricians wire, connect and maintain the solar farms, wind turbines, battery systems, substations and power lines that South Africa is building as it moves away from coal power. Electricians trained to work safely on high- and medium-voltage equipment are in short supply, and the grid needs them to keep power lines and substations running across the country.
Jobs in the energy transition
Solar farm electrician
You'd install, connect and maintain the cables, switches and other electrical equipment that carry power from thousands of solar panels on a solar farm into the grid.
Wind turbine service technician
You'd climb wind turbines to inspect, service and repair their electrical, mechanical and control parts, often more than 100 metres above the ground.
Extra training: After qualifying as an electrician, you'd take a wind turbine service technician course of about nine months at SARETEC, a renewable energy training centre in Cape Town, and recent intakes also asked for three years of work experience.
Substation electrician
You'd maintain and repair the high-voltage equipment at substations, the sites that switch electricity and change its voltage on its way from solar and wind farms to towns and cities.
Extra training: High- and medium-voltage work is a specialisation you can only take on once you're a qualified electrician, and it needs extra safety and regulatory training.
Battery storage electrician
You'd install, test and maintain large battery systems at solar farms and Eskom substations, and industry says people who can handle their lithium-ion batteries safely are hard to find.
Electric vehicle charger installer
You'd install, connect and test charging points for electric cars at homes, businesses and roadside charging stations, such as the solar-powered stations being opened along the N3 highway.
How to get there
The qualifications
You'd work towards the Occupational Certificate: Electrician, which is at NQF Level 4, the same level as Matric on the National Qualifications Framework.
What you need to start
The official minimum is a Grade 9 pass, or another qualification at the same level, with Mathematics and Science, and you must be at least 16.
These are the official minimum requirements, and colleges can set higher ones.
Where you can study
Data verified June–July 2026 from official college publications and the DHET occupational qualifications register. Spot an error? Suggest a correction.
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