Cylfaa · Melin Ynni · Ynni's Mill
This is the green energy home of Cylfaa. It is for employers taking green energy into a classroom, schools planning careers sessions, and students who want to know what the jobs are really like.
Ynni · Ynni's name means "energy". She is the green energy owl and keeps the mill turning, powering the whole village.
Rydych chi yma · You are here
Melin Ynni is one of the ten homes of Cylfaa. Each home is a sector of Welsh work, with its own pack and its own skills gap to close.
The skills gap
Current figures for Wales, and North Wales where they exist. Every number links to where it came from.
Over the next decade, to make Welsh homes warmer and greener: insulation, heat pumps, solar and the electricians to wire it all up.
Source: ECA, Mar 2026
Average jobs supported each year to 2035 if Wales goes for maximum renewables. Up to 1,620 of them in North Wales.
Source: RenewableUK Cymru, May 2025
Up from 905 full-time jobs in 2025. That's six times as many people fitting and fixing low carbon heating.
Source: Climate Action Wales, Jun 2026
The ECA says Wales needs at least 700 new electrical apprentices a year, but only 435 started training last year.
Source: ECA, Mar 2026
Welsh Government research says Wales needs 57,500 extra skilled workers over a decade to retrofit homes for net zero.
Source: ECA, Mar 2026
Wales has about 31,000 heat pumps against a 580,000 target for 2035. Heat pump jobs could grow from 905 in 2025 to 5,446.
Source: Welsh Government, Mar 2026
Welsh Government's draft net zero skills roadmaps list heat pump, solar PV, battery storage and smart meter installers as needed skills.
Source: Welsh Government, Oct 2024
UK energy and utilities need over 312,000 new workers by 2030, including over 105,000 to replace retirements. No Welsh split published.
Source: Water Magazine reporting Energy & Utility…, Sep 2024
Jobs and pay
Six real roles, from a first apprenticeship to a degree route. Salaries are typical yearly pay, with the usual range.
£17.5k
Typical range £17,510–£25,000
RWE 3-yr scheme, Coleg Llandrillo Rhyl
Source: RWE, Feb 2026
£35k
Typical range £26,000–£45,000
Electrical apprenticeship or college
UK-wide figure
£35k
Typical range £24,000–£46,000
£36k
Typical range £25,000–£47,000
£46k
Typical range £28,000–£65,000
£42k
Typical range £27,000–£58,000
Welsh pay figures are used where they exist. Cards marked UK-wide or England use national figures because no Welsh breakdown was found. Apprentice pay uses the UK apprentice minimum wage from April 2026 unless an employer's own rate is shown.
Through every Byd
Green and digital skills are changing every job in Wales, so every pack has a slide for each, written for this Byd.
Half of Wales's Power Is Already Green.
In 2024 Wales made renewable electricity equal to 54% of what it used. The aim is 100% by 2035, so generation needs to grow about four times over.
Wales made renewable electricity equal to 54% of the electricity it used in 2024. Total renewable capacity: 4.3 GW.
Source: Welsh Government, Mar 2026
Wales's biggest offshore wind farm (576 MW) is run from the Port of Mostyn, Flintshire, by RWE.
Source: RWE press release, Jul 2025
Morlais, off Anglesey, uses tidal currents. Run by social enterprise Menter Môn, it is due to start from 2026.
Source: Business Wales, Feb 2025
Smart Power Needs Digital Brains.
Wind and sun don't switch on when we want them to. Data, sensors and software keep the lights on and help find the best ways to heat homes.
Networks use live data to balance power from wind and solar. SP Energy Networks recruits data and digital apprentices.
Technicians watch every turbine remotely on screens, spotting faults before they happen and planning repairs at sea.
Domestic energy assessors survey homes and use software to produce Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs).
At Tŷ Gwyrddfai, Penygroes, Bangor University tests new retrofit tech in chambers that copy the inside and outside of a house.
Gemau Cylfaa · The Cylfaa Games
Free games for students, families and classes. Presenters: they make a good last five minutes.
Routes in
Real courses and schemes at North Wales colleges, universities and employers.
RWE's 3-year wind turbine apprenticeship trains at Coleg Llandrillo Rhyl and Gwynt y Môr, Mostyn. SP Energy Networks takes apprentices in engineering, lines and data.
Coleg Llandrillo Rhyl's Engineering Centre has an RWE turbine hall. GLLM runs solar PV, EV charging and energy assessor courses. Coleg Cambria Deeside teaches engineering.
BEng Renewable and Sustainable Engineering at Wrexham University covers wind, solar, smart grids and storage. Bangor University offers Electronic Engineering.
Bangor University and Grŵp Llandrillo Menai run an electrical-electronic engineering degree apprenticeship. SP Energy Networks' QS degree apprenticeship starts on £25,950.
The pack · for employers
The green energy pack is being built now and is coming this term. This is what will be in it.
Built for Welsh classrooms. Mapped to Curriculum for Wales and the Four Purposes, with Gatsby Benchmarks evidenced. Bilingual, Welsh and English. Neurodiverse-friendly by design. From September 2026, careers and work-related experiences are a legal requirement under Curriculum for Wales.
Log each session in Owl Impact® and it becomes verified social value evidence.
Leave your details and we'll tell you the moment the pack is ready.
Cae'r Her · The Cylfaa Challenge: young people solve Wales's skills gaps themselves, and the winning idea gets funded and built for real.
Bring the Challenge to your schoolFor students and parents
Real Welsh jobs in green energy, what they pay and how to get in. The student pages for every Byd live here.
Explore your futureByd is Welsh for "world". Every home in Cylfaa is a Byd: a world of work. Join your school's team for the Cylfaa Challenge and send your Gofyn, your ask, to the Cylfaa panel.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these. Checked October 2026.