The Baltic Sea, like the rest of the world, will struggle with the challenge of the need for qualified personnel necessary for the development of offshore wind energy sector. Until 2025 alone, 480,000 employees trained globally according to the Global Wind Organization standards are required to meet the targets for the onshore and offshore sectors.

One of the main topics of the current discussion in the offshore wind energy industry is human resources. There is a high risk that the global targets for the offshore wind sector will be delayed due to competency and staff shortages. The Global Wind Energy Council in cooperation with Renewables Consulting Group forecasts in the latest report that until 2025 it will be necessary to train 480,000 employees, including 172,000 in the offshore wind energy sector (necessary for the construction of 90 GW). More than 70 percent of the demand for employee training relates to wind energy markets (onshore and offshore) such as Japan, Brazil, China, Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the USA and Vietnam.

The increase of 34.4 GW in offshore wind energy sector in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (taken together) will require the training of 44,412 employees. Unfortunately, no detailed data has been provided for individual continents.

Training is necessary, in particular, for the construction and installation segment, as well as operational and maintenance services. Currently, training centers can train 150,000 employees until 2021 and 200,000 employees until 2022. Experts calculate that over the years 2021-2025, the global wind energy sector requires additional training of at least 280,000 employees to install 490 GW of capacity in onshore and offshore wind energy sector over the next five years.

Standardization as the key to personnel safety in the offshore wind energy sector

On a global scale, many training centers for employees of offshore wind energy are being built. Contrary to appearances, work on offshore wind platforms poses many dangers for employees. Therefore, experts point out that the creation of global training standards is key to safeguarding the health and safety of employees.

Source: GWEC