New data has unveiled a pressing workforce challenge for the global wind industry, indicating the demand for almost 600,000 wind technicians in the next five years.
Of these, more than 240,000 will be fresh recruits to the sector.
The Global Wind Organisation and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) have jointly released their latest report, projecting the workforce requirements for constructing, installing, operating and maintaining the anticipated global wind fleet until 2027.
The report states that more than 574,000 technicians will be necessary for construction, installation, operation and maintenance by 2027.
Strikingly, nearly 43% of these will be newcomers to the industry, entering through education and recruitment pipelines or transitioning from other sectors, such as offshore oil and gas.
Wind energy installations are projected to double from 78GW in 2022 to 155GW in 2027, boosting the global wind capacity to over 1,500GW in just five years, according to the study.
This growth is fuelled by technological innovations and the rapidly expanding offshore wind sector.
Ben Backwell, Chief Executive Officer of GWEC said: “A strong workforce and healthy supply chain will be crucial to the colossal growth of wind capacity in this decade.
“It is vital that the growing workforce is provided with the tools to train properly, with an approach that puts health and safety at the heart of industry growth.”
