Nearly half a million workers must be trained over next fve years

Photo courtesy of Ørsted.

A NEW REPORT RELEASED IN JUNE BY THE GLOBAL WIND ENERGY COUNCIL (GWEC) AND GLOBAL WIND ORGANISATION (GWO), IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE RENEWABLES CONSULTING GROUP (RCG), FINDS THAT THE GLOBAL WIND INDUSTRY WILL NEED TO TRAIN UPWARDS OF 480,000 MORE PEOPLE TO GWO STANDARDS OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS TO MEET GLOBAL WIND POWER MARKET DEMAND IN LINE WITH HEALTH AND SAFETY STANDARDS.

Source: Global Wind Energy Workforce Forecast 2021, GWEC/GWO.

These workers will need to be trained to construct, install, operate, and maintain the world’s growing onshore and ofshore wind feet, and represents only a fracton of the job opportunites available in the growing wind industry.

In 2019, GWO partnered with GWEC to highlight the importance of safety, training, and job creaton to power wind energy deployment and the global energy transiton. The frst output of this collaboraton, Powering the Future: Global Ofshore Wind Workforce Outlook 20202024, was published in April 2020 and provided a quanttatve analysis of how many people would require industry standard GWO training in six target markets. This report concluded that a GWO-trained workforce of 77,000 people will be required to build and operate the projected ofshore installatons in the six target markets by 2024. As the expansion of the global wind industry accelerates, opportunites for job creaton are of growing interest across the supply chain, partcularly to regional and natonal governments, who increasingly view green energy as a driver for economic growth and social development as well as a route to decarbonisaton of electricity networks. This second report builds on Powering the Future, providing GWOtrained workforce forecasts for a range of ten emerging and growth markets, and expands the scope to include onshore wind.

Currently, the GWO training market, considered the global standard for wind workforce training, has the capacity to support the training needs of 150,000 workers by the end of 2021 and 200,000 by the end of 2022. However, analysis in The Global Wind Workforce Outlook 2021-2025 fnds that we will need at least 280,000 more trained workers to install the forecast 490 GW of new wind power capacity coming online over the next fve years. Of the 480,000 GWO-trained workers required worldwide, 308,000 will be deployed to construct and maintain onshore wind projects and 172,000 are needed for ofshore wind. Over 70% of the new global workforce training demand will come from the ten markets analysed in the report, including Brazil, China, Japan, India, Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, US, and Vietnam.

The markets analysed in the report were selected for regional diversity, as well as spanning the largest onshore wind markets globally, high-growth markets for onshore and ofshore wind, and emerging wind markets. Ben Backwell, CEO at GWEC, says, “The wind industry needs to scale up at an >>

Photo courtesy of Ørsted.

unprecedented rate over the next decade to put the world on track to meet net zero. If ambiton is scaled up to what it needs to be – three or four tmes the current market forecasts – the workforce training requirements will be far higher than what was found in this report. To meet this challenge, we need to prepare now for the workforce of the future, and this means training hundreds of thousands of workers across the world to be part of one of the fastest-growing industries. But we need to ensure this workforce is trained to the highest global standards to ensure the health and safety of all.”

For already large wind markets like the and China, scaling up training capacity can provide new job opportunites and increase

More than 480,000 people will require GWO training to construct, install, operate, and maintain the world’s onshore and ofshore wind energy feet due to be installed through 2025. Of these, 340,000 will be needed in just the ten target countries detailed in this report. There is a signifcant untapped opportunity for the training and industrial educaton supply chain across all markets. Current GWO training market capacity is expected to support the training needs of 150,000 workers by the end of 2021 and 200,000 by the end of 2022. With at least 280,000 more workers requiring GWO training by 2025, organisatons in scope to deliver this are encouraged to develop certfed GWO programmes now to meet demand. Large contnental markets with established workforces such as China and the United States will beneft from a combinaton of job creaton opportunites through contnued expansion and improved productvity via the use of industryrecognised training standards. Emerging wind markets can develop their safety and technical training networks from the ground up to ensure alignment with global safety systems.

productvity through the recogniton of GWO standards. Emerging economies will need to develop their safety and technical training networks from the ground up to ensure alignment with global safety systems to ensure the industry’s long-term sustainability. Overall, there is signifcant untapped potental for the training and industrial educaton supply chain in countries across the world, and organisatons in scope to deliver the required additonal training capacity can develop GWO programmes now to meet this future demand.

This forecast does not include the workforce needs for other segments of the wind project lifecycle, including in procurement, manufacturing (the most labour-intensive segment), transport, and decommissioning or repowering. The wider workforce needs to deliver the forecast onshore and ofshore wind energy feet through 2025 and are larger than the training needs for constructon, installaton, operatons, and maintenance identfed in this report.