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The Energy Skills Programme is a preparatory programme by Refugee Talent Hub that prepares refugees for a technical job in the energy sector, with intensive Dutch language training as its foundation. In 2025, the first group of 15 participants successfully completed the programme. Language Partners provided the language training. This is the story, and the lesson for every organisation working with non-native professionals.
Why the energy sector and refugees need each other
The energy transition is one of the biggest societal challenges of our time. Making it happen requires tens of thousands of new skilled professionals. Grid operators such as Alliander, Enexis and TenneT are looking for mechanics and technicians who can help move the Netherlands towards a sustainable future. At the same time, many refugees with residency status want nothing more than to build their future in the Netherlands. Many of them are motivated, have the right background and have the talent to take on this work.
The Energy Skills Programme by Refugee Talent Hub brings those worlds together. It shows how you can tackle labour shortage and integration at the same time. But the programme also shows there is one key to success: language proficiency.
No language, no safety. No language, no success
Language and safety run through the Energy Skills Programme as a common thread. Because safety is more than wearing a helmet or putting on gloves. It starts with understanding and being understood.
In the energy sector, safety is literally a matter of life and death. That is why language training for refugees is not a side issue in this programme, but an indispensable building block. From understanding instructions to using the right technical terms and daring to ask questions on the work floor: language is decisive in everything. For the professionals themselves, their colleagues and the organisation.
Language proficiency also forms the basis for collaboration and the social dynamics within a team. When language barriers arise, they affect every aspect of an organisation, and ultimately its success. Why language is a strategic foundation rather than a soft skill is something we explore in this article.
What does the Energy Skills Programme involve?
In 2024, Refugee Talent Hub launched the Energy Skills Programme together with Alliander, Enexis and TenneT. This preparatory programme readies refugees for a career in the energy sector. Participants receive:
- Technical training
- Safety lessons
- Intensive Dutch language training (NT2), focused on technical terms from the energy sector
- An introduction to Dutch working culture
Language Partners provided the language training, with safety at its core. Our sister organisation Mazzi-Inc. brought in the cultural dimension: how do you create a working environment of mutual understanding, where asking questions is natural and where newcomers feel safe to learn and grow?
Language Partners was deliberately chosen for the delivery because of the positive experiences the participating partners already had with us. Our expertise was also a match: the energy sector is one of our focus industries, and we develop language programmes tailored to the sector and the role.
What does language training for refugees deliver?
In 2025, the first group of 15 participants successfully completed the programme. For them, this meant developing new technical skills and learning the language needed to work safely. But also a concrete step towards employment and a sustainable future. Their confidence to fully participate in a team grew along the way.
One of the participants put it this way:
“Good communication helps me collaborate more easily and better with my colleagues.”
For the employers, it meant: motivated employees who are not only technically capable, but who also speak the language of their work.
Learning and working together
Refugee Talent Hub emphasises that the collaboration with Language Partners was pleasant, professional and reliable. More importantly: learning happened together. Even when something did not go flawlessly straight away, valuable lessons were drawn that directly contribute to improving future programmes.
Or as one partner put it:
“What I appreciate most is the shared feeling: working on the programme together and truly making something beautiful of it.”
It is telling how the essence of our name, what we do and who we are, come together here. We live up to our name: Language Partners.
Do you work with non-native professionals?
Energy Skills shows that language proficiency is not an extra, but a strategic instrument. It is the key to safety, literally on the work floor and figuratively in collaboration, and therefore to success. For newcomers and for organisations.
That lesson is not limited to the energy sector. Wherever non-native employees join, in tech, logistics, healthcare or manufacturing, language determines whether someone can work safely and participate fully.
Non-native professionals in your organisation?
We develop Dutch language training (NT2) tailored to your sector, focused on the technical terms and situations of your work floor. In-company, at one of our locations or online. Tell us about your situation and we will gladly think along, no strings attached, even if the conclusion is that a different route suits you better.
Frequently asked questions about language training for refugees
What is the Energy Skills Programme?
The Energy Skills Programme is a preparatory programme by Refugee Talent Hub, launched in 2024 with Alliander, Enexis and TenneT. It prepares refugees for a technical job in the energy sector through technical training, safety lessons, intensive Dutch language training and an introduction to Dutch working culture.
Why is language training important for refugees in the workplace?
Language determines whether someone understands instructions, uses technical terms correctly and dares to ask questions. In sectors where safety is a matter of life and death, such as the energy sector, language proficiency is a precondition for working safely and participating fully in a team.
What is job-focused Dutch language training (NT2)?
NT2 stands for Dutch as a second language. In job-focused NT2 training, non-native employees learn not only general Dutch, but specifically the technical terms, instructions and communication situations from their own work. This makes what they learn directly applicable on the work floor.
Can language training for non-native employees also take place in-company?
Yes. Training at your own location is often the best choice, because the training then takes place in the environment where the language is actually used and there is no travel time. Fully online or at one of our locations is also possible.
