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Skills Summit sees signing of new green training pact
21 October 2009
Wind industry reps and skills sector bosses commit to work together to get people into green industries.
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."
-ENDS-
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NOTES TO EDITORS
- BWEA is the trade and professional body for the UK wind and marine renewables industries. Formed in 1978, and with 532 corporate members, BWEA is the leading renewable energy trade association in the UK. Wind has been the world's fastest growing renewable energy source for the last seven years, and this trend is expected to continue.
- In summer 2008, BWEA commissioned Bain & Company and SQW to produce a linked pair of reports investigating the subject of skills and employment in the wind, wave and tidal stream industries. Bain & Co have produced estimates of current employment in the wind sector, future employment based on scenarios of delivery in 2020, and an analysis of the skills shortages affecting the industry. Click here to download this report (PDF format)
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