UK - Skills Summit sees signing of new green training pact

Meeting today in Liverpool at the wind industry's annual conference, key business leaders from the UK power sector business, as well as leading figures from UK skills bodies and academia, signed up to a new sector training and skills route map to train up to 60,000 entrants to the wind and marine energy industries by 2020.

The BWEA Skills Summit oversaw the sign-off of the first Wind & Marine Energy Skills Accords, having brought together heavyweight figures such as RWE NPower Renewables UK boss, Paul Cowling, the UK MD of industrial giant Siemens, Christoph Ehlers, as well as.Strategic Director for Energy and Utility Skills, Chair of the shadow National Skills Academy for Power and other key decision makers from the English, Scottish and Welsh education landscape. Chaired by former minister and Labour Party General Secretary Lord Whitty the session also heard a video address by Kevin Brennan MP, the Skills Minister.

Opening the summit, BWEA Chief Executive Maria McCaffery MBE said:

"The task ahead of our sector is enormous, as are the opportunities if just half the manufacturing for the next generation of offshore wind farms takes place here in the UK then this industry will grow 10-fold from just 6,000 jobs today to 60,000 by 2020."

She added "But in order to attract the investment and build that industry we need to have a skilled workforce ready to work in the sector. However, today we are already suffering from a growing shortage of qualified technicians and professional engineers."

The Summit aimed to secure a commitment for the development of a new National Renewable Energy Apprenticeship Programme, and to ensure that high quality advice on entry routes into renewable energy careers become widespread.

Summit Chair Lord Whitty said:

"There have been real barriers to the rapid deployment of wind power, and skills shortages have been part of them. Today's skills summit demonstrated the determination of the industry and educational bodies to address this shortage by bringing in an apprenticeship scheme as soon as possible. There is a real commitment to resolve the situation from all parties."

This week the capacity of operational wind farms will reach a record 4GW of installed capacity, and recent research shows that by 2020 up to 60,000 jobs could be created in the wind and Marine Energy industries. However, the sector is set to face a chronic skills shortage, with a falling number of engineering graduates and qualified technicians.

Commenting on the commitment from industry, stakeholders and the Government shown by the signing of the Skills Accord, McCaffery said:

"If we can get this right, we can create thousands of green collar jobs for the UK, and wind and renewables will power the green economy for a generation to come."

For more information please contact Trevor Sievert at ts@windfair.net