Women in Renewable Energy: Building a More Balanced Energy Transition

The energy transition is often discussed in terms of technology, infrastructure and investment.

But it is also about people: the skills, perspectives and leadership needed to design, permit and build the energy systems of the future.

In the video accompanying this article, one of our colleagues is carrying out a site inspection for a photovoltaic development project — assessing land that could host the next generation of renewable energy infrastructure.

It is a simple moment of everyday work. Yet it reflects a broader reality about how the sector is evolving.

Across the global renewables industry, women represent around one third of total employment. According to the 2025 Renewable Energy: A Gender Perspective report published by IRENA, women account for 32% of the workforce and only 19% of senior management roles. Representation tends to decrease as levels of responsibility increase.

In the Italian photovoltaic sector, the latest ITALIA SOLARE survey (2023) shows that women represent 36% of employees in the companies analysed. A meaningful figure for a highly technical and industrial sector, yet still not fully balanced in core technical and decision-making functions.

The issue, therefore, is not only how many talents enter the sector.

It is how they are valued — and how far they can grow.

The Women in Energy – WEC Italia Manifesto (February 2026) outlines a number of principles that can help shape the future of the sector: embedding equality into corporate values, ensuring fair access to leadership roles, transparency in career paths, support for shared parenthood and systematic monitoring of gender data.

These are not symbolic statements. They are operational levers that allow companies to build stronger organisations: clearer career paths, measurable objectives, mentoring and training programmes, and policies that support work-life balance and shared responsibility.

Because the energy transition is not only technological.

It is also organisational and cultural.

Within this context, VOLT has adopted a clear approach.

Today, more than 50% of our team are women, working across technical development, permitting, finance and governance.

Not a quota.

A deliberate organisational model.

Our colleagues are directly involved in project development, regulatory structuring, economic analysis and strategic decision-making. These are roles that shape the quality of projects and the long-term strength of the company.

For a project developer, the quality of decisions directly determines the quality of projects — and that is where diverse perspectives make a real difference.

We believe that diverse teams build better companies — and better energy projects.

For us, March 8 is not symbolic. It is operational.

The energy transition will only succeed if the sector is able to recognise, develop and value all available talent.

At VOLT, this is the way we work every day.

If you would like to contribute to building the energy transition with us, you can explore our open positions and submit your application here.