The offshore wind industry will need 77,000 GWO-trained on-site workers to fulfill 2020-2024 market forecasts across North America, China, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam and South Korea

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and the Global Wind Organisation (GWO) have published a report, Powering the Future: Global Offshore Wind Workforce Outlook 2020-2024 as the first deliverable of the partnership between the two global associations. The research was conducted in collaboration with Renewables Consulting Group (RCG). The report provides a qualitative analysis of the workforce training needs required to fulfill offshore market forecasts in North America, China, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam and South Korea. Research determined that 2.5 persons per MW per project are needed to deliver the 31GW forecast for these six markets.

The research was built upon GWO training data and GWEC Market Intelligence forecasts, combined with data from Renewables Consulting Group’s GRIP database and a series of industry interviews. The key findings from the report are:

  • A roadmap is necessary to match offshore wind market forecasts with local training needs: The offshore wind market is growing exponentially and will be a major driver of the energy transition across the world, but we need the workforce in place in order to deliver on offshore wind’s incredible potential. This report provides a qualitative analysis of the workforce training needs required to deliver 31 GW of forecast installations in six target markets: North America, China (Mainland), Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea.
  • 77,000 GWO-trained on-site workers needed to power offshore wind growth in emerging markets: The offshore wind industry will need 77,000 GWO-trained on-site workers to fulfill 2020-2024 market forecasts in these six target markets. These jobs include the on-site workforce that require GWO training such as installation, commissioning and operations and maintenance activities. Ultimately this means that we need on average 2.5 persons per MW per project.
  • Key bottlenecks for training must be overcome to meet offshore wind ambitions: Key workforce supply chain bottlenecks must be addressed in order to realise these large-scale training needs. Barriers include a lack of training centres, lack of familiarity with standards and risk of standards being perceived as “imposed” and unreflective of local context.
  • Having a trained offshore workforce based on standards is crucial to power the global energy transition: Trained workforce based on GWO standards is necessary to ensure health and safety of workers, secure the long-term sustainability of the sector, create thousands of local jobs and power the global energy transition.
  • COVID-19 will have an impact on both workforce and turbine supply chain: The impact of COVID-19 on both workforce and turbine supply chain is yet to be fully quantified, although GWEC Market Intelligence expects there to be minor impacts for the markets highlighted in the report, and GWO has begun rolling at digital training platforms to continue training the workforce during the crisis.

The full report can be read here.