“The mobile work policy is extremely beneficial for women” – pv magazine International

July 5, 2024 Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu)

After moving from Ukraine to Germany, I started my professional career working at the German energy agency Dena in Berlin and later at the United Nations in New York, USA. Both organizations acted as catalysts and demonstrated the key role of women in driving sustainable development and promoting gender-sensitive energy policies. Now I work in the private sector at the German company Goldbeck Solar and am responsible for M&A and financing transactions across the group worldwide. In addition, I became Managing Director of Goldbeck Solar Investment Ukraine, a joint venture between Goldbeck Solar Investment and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) that aims to implement up to 500 MW of solar projects in Ukraine over the next three to five years. Both positions are examples of the key role of women in the energy sector.

The renewable energy industry generally has a higher rate of female participation compared to traditional energy industries such as oil, gas and coal. In these sectors, the overall participation rate is around 20% and drops to as low as 15% in field roles. The renewable energy sector as a whole has a participation rate closer to 32%. The renewable energy sector is relatively young and rapidly evolving, which provides more opportunities to implement modern diversity and inclusion practices from the ground up, rather than changing established cultures and practices.

Despite higher participation rates, women are still largely a minority in the sector. This is particularly true in management positions, where women are still very much underrepresented. In addition, there are still issues with workplace culture, including unconscious bias and a lack of policies to support work-life balance. In this regard, mobile work policies are extremely beneficial to women, giving them more freedom with their time. Finally, the underrepresentation of women in STEM subjects affects the number of women entering both renewable and traditional energy sectors, although this is gradually improving with more targeted educational initiatives.

Many of the challenges previously mentioned for the renewable energy sector are replicated in the finance and investment industry. Underrepresentation is again a major issue, with women holding only around 20% of management positions, which is even lower in the investment industry. The gender pay gap is pervasive and given how closely pay is linked to performance in management positions, underrepresentation has a knock-on effect on the gender pay gap in the industry.

There are several actions that can be taken to increase women’s participation in the industry. As mentioned earlier, given that the sector is relatively young and emerging, there is a window of opportunity to implement modern diversity and inclusion practices from the ground up. In addition, policies can play a significant role here. By promoting gender equality in the renewable energy sector and working with organizations and governments, it is possible to ensure that renewable energy projects are gender-sensitive. Finally, targeted education and outreach programs to encourage women to enter STEM, including scholarships, mentoring programs, and career development initiatives, will have a lasting impact.

Olga Kovalchuk joined Goldbeck Solar Group in September 2019. She is responsible for M&A and structured finance transactions across the group and is Managing Director of Goldbeck Solar Investment Ukraine, a joint venture with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in Ukraine. She has over 15 years of international experience in M&A, finance and business development in Europe, Latin America and Central Asia in wind and photovoltaic infrastructure assets. She has worked in organizations such as Vattenfall, Sowitec United Nations and the German energy agency dena. She holds a Master of Science in International Business Administration from the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany.

Interested in joining Olga Kovalchuk and other industry leaders and experts at Women in Solar Europe? Find out more: www.wiseu.network

Popular content