Offshore wind commences workforce planning initiative

• New industry report identifies high demand for skilled personnel to support offshore wind growth in Scotland and the rest of the UK
• The Offshore Wind Industry Council’s 2023 Offshore Wind Skills Intelligence Report forecasts sector growth from 32,257 today to 104,401 by 2030, meaning the sector needs to attract and retain 10,000 people each year to deliver future offshore wind projects.  
• The report identifies strong growth in Scotland, particularly around north east Scotland and the supply chain focused around the Deepwind cluster
• The report also highlights the significant opportunities around floating offshore wind, but notes that this will lead to additional demand for technical and vocational skills and training.
• The Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) is a partnership between the Scottish public sector and the offshore wind industry, and is coordinating discussions between offshore wind developers and Scottish ports to maximise opportunities for strategic investment, including work on skills
• SOWEC’s Skills Group works alongside OWIC and will use the data in this new report to set out priorities out to 2030.

The Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council’s Skills Group Co-Chair – Jim Brown, Partnership Director of the Energy Skills Partnership and who also sits on the OWIC group that led delivery of this important report, commented:

“We can see growing demand in Scotland from the offshore wind industry for a range of technical and vocational skills. Working together between industry, training and education providers and government means we can put in place skills and training required.

“But we need to be aware of the challenge as well as the opportunities. Scotland has a globally significant pipeline, particularly for first generation floating offshore wind projects. That means we need to work together to support the transition of skilled people from oil and gas and other well-matched sectors, while also training up a new generation of people ready to work in support of an offshore energy sector like offshore wind.

“SOWEC will be working alongside OWIC looking at workforce planning across the UK to support offshore wind growth in Scotland.”

Editors Notes

• Jim Brown is Partnership Director of Energy Skills Partnership. As well as being Skills Lead for SOWEC is active in a wide range of government, industry and college sector groups and has been instrumental in establishing the group structures and training networks that underpin ESP. He has had an extensive skills career entering the college sector from industry before working with two Sector Skills Councils during which time he was also seconded into Scottish Government to develop their Renewable Energy Skills Framework for Action. Healso represents the college sector on the Scottish Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan Implementation Steering Group.
  
  Jim is also supporting a number of strategic projects with Dundee and Angus College including a focus on Industry 4.0 and the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc Skills Academy. 

• The Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) is a collaboration between the Scottish public sector and the offshore wind industry. SOWEC has a clear vision and goals which is focused on growing the sector, ensuring the Scottish offshore wind industry is more sustainable, competitive, and commercially-attractive, both domestically and in the global offshore wind market.
• OWIC’s Offshore Wind Skills Intelligence Report 2023 can be downloaded from https://www.owic.org.uk/_files/ugd/1c0521_43fa6bedd83b407fb3c11402d17dc50f.pdf