The energy transition is changing not only the technological composition of electrical systems, but also the structure of their workforce . However, the integration of women is progressing unevenly across technologies, technical roles, and decision-making positions.
According to data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) , women currently represent 32% of the full-time workforce in renewable energy globally . This figure rises to 40% in the solar photovoltaic industry , the highest percentage among the subsectors analyzed by the agency.
The contrast is evident in other technologies and, especially, when looking at positions of greater responsibility. IRENA places female participation at 21% within the wind energy industry, 28% in positions related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), 22% in mid-skilled jobs and barely 19% in senior management or boards of directors .
In Colombia, Natalia García, CEO of Enermant , identifies a similar dynamic. She estimates that women currently represent between 30% and 33% of the Colombian renewable energy sector , although their participation decreases when the energy sector is analyzed across its entire value chain.
According to Enermant's CEO, this difference between renewables and traditional segments is related to the way in which the new energy industries developed and the profile of the companies that initially entered the market .
The executive points out that many of those who started developing these businesses belonged to younger generations, which would have allowed for the creation of labor structures with fewer gender-related constraints.
According to García, this process facilitated women's entry into different areas of renewable energy and helped the rest of the industry begin to recognize female technical and business profiles. At the same time, she notes that the presence of women is also increasing within the traditional energy sector , although she does not have a consolidated figure.
The directive identifies this evolution in a greater female presence at events, panels, sector-specific roundtables, funding opportunities, and specialized interviews. However, this quantitative growth is not yet mirrored with the same intensity in management and decision-making positions .
The IRENA data provided for this article reinforces this diagnosis. While non-profit and civil society organizations achieve a female representation of 48% , private for-profit companies register an average of 25% .
The discussion also takes on a long-term dimension. Renewable energies could create 30 million jobs by 2030 , which amplifies the challenge of incorporating female talent not only into the base of the industry, but also into its technical, management, and leadership areas.
For García, greater inclusion requires instruments that expand opportunities, although he warns that representation cannot be separated from the professional requirements demanded by each position .
“ We need laws that allow us to fill positions with qualified candidates ,” says the CEO of Enermant. The executive insists that inclusion policies should facilitate access for skilled professionals, but without making gender the sole selection criterion.
Added to this challenge is the need to train professionals who are not yet available in sufficient numbers for certain technical or executive positions.
“ There are profiles that we don't have yet, but we are building them and we will get there ,” the executive acknowledges.
The next step: bringing participation into public policy
In Colombia, this discussion is beginning to extend beyond the labor market. Industry leaders are working on a new platform designed to participate more actively in public policy and promote initiatives that increase the presence of women in the energy industry .
The proposal stems from the experience of Empoderadas, a community that came to include up to 1050 women linked to the Colombian energy sector .
“ This year we are going to create a vehicle that will allow us to participate more actively, where we can have a role in public policy that allows us to have women who contribute to the creation of activities that will make our participation even more visible ,” García said.
The intention is that this structure will allow working with the Government on specific activities and proposals related to female participation , transferring to the public sphere some of the experience accumulated by professionals and businesswomen in the sector.
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According to the executive, this independence would allow for bringing together professionals with diverse perspectives and working on specific industry problems. Under this approach, the agenda for women's participation is not separate from the main discussions currently facing the Colombian energy market.
And that's where the conversation shifts to the new government. García believes the next stage will require decisions on energy security, expanding supply, investments, storage, firm generation, and the speed at which new energy sources are incorporated .
The directive places special emphasis on the need for the sector to support the new authorities and participate in building solutions, rather than simply observing the measures from the outside.
“ My expectation is more for the sector, that the sector will effectively unite around a person who knows us all, who knows what we need, and who will work to ensure that this country does not shut down ,” García stated.
“ She doesn’t earn this position because she is a woman, she earns this position because she has the profile, the knowledge, the forcefulness and the leadership ,” he said, referring to the new minister María Nohemí Arboleda.
Energy security, storage and investment confidence
According to García, Colombia will continue to incorporate renewables, but it must avoid a transition built on the exclusion of technologies that still fulfill relevant functions for the reliability of the system.
The executive proposes a vision of technological coexistence , where renewable sources coexist with storage, conventional generation and fuels capable of providing backup while the available supply increases.
The CEO believes this discussion is central to energy security, especially given a demand that, as she describes it, is putting pressure on a supply that needs to grow. This approach will also be present at the Powered by Women Energy Summit, whose agenda is structured around the coexistence of energy sources and talent. Rather than presenting the event as an isolated activity, García links it to the opportunity to discuss what each segment of the value chain can contribute to addressing the current challenges facing the system. Among the planned topics are the existing infrastructure that supports supply, new technologies and demands, the financing needed to expand the system, and the talent required to operate it.
Within the country's roadmap, storage appears as one of the technologies called to complement renewable growth and reduce the impact of its variability.
García appreciates that Colombia has moved forward with an auction that included batteries, although he warns that the award alone does not constitute a sufficient measure of success .
“ The success of any auction should really be measured by what actually enters the grid to deliver energy, and not just by what is awarded ,” he points out.
For the projects to materialize, the executive identifies two conditions that she considers essential: available capacity to connect and incentives that allow the effective use of new technologies .
The same concern arises when analyzing energy procurement processes. García believes that the work already completed provides the new government with a framework from which it could launch new auctions when it deems necessary.
From their perspective, the demand exists and the energy is needed , but the main question lies on the supply side and in the reasons why there are not enough participants to cover certain products.
In one of the nighttime products analyzed during the conversation, García points out that there were buyers and sellers, although participation reached around 40% .
“ We need to regain confidence in investment. We need to regain confidence in players who aren't the same ones we already have here ,” García stated.
The executive clarifies that the continued presence of existing players is not inherently a problem, but warns of the risks of a market moving towards excessive concentration. In her view, the entry of new players would broaden competition and lead to greater technological and business diversification .
This diagnosis reconnects with the discussion on women's participation. If Colombia needs new investments, technologies, professionals, and decision-making structures, expanding the talent base emerges as part of the same agenda for competitiveness and energy security .
“ The expectation is to build guidelines that transcend the next few years and allow for the orderly incorporation of technologies, capital and talent under a long-term vision ,” García added.
In this context, the increased female participation observed in renewables—and particularly in solar photovoltaics—opens a discussion that goes beyond employment figures. The challenge will be to determine how much of that presence translates into the technical, business, and public policy spaces where decisions are made that will define Colombia's energy future.