The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has agreed a two-year deal with the Global Wind Organisation (GWO) to scope workforce training needs that would support accelerated renewable energy development and the coming wave of clean energy jobs.
The two organisations’ memorandum of understanding aims to “leverage shared resources”, including datasets, analytical and forecasting capabilities, with the aim of providing “valuable insights to all wind industry stakeholders” regarding areas including recruitment, training and health, safety and environment.
According to GWEC, the collaboration is “the first step in helping to produce a coherent roadmap for wind energy jobs in the future global energy system, helping emerging markets to benefit from high-quality local job creation to contribute to a thriving green economy”.
GWO CEO Jakob Lau Holst sad: “The GWO ‘Winda’ database contains the most comprehensive set of workforce training information in the world. Over 122,000 people are now trained to GWO standard at centres in nearly 50 countries.
“To support demand in new markets, the industry needs insight, forecasting and analysis. We are delighted to continue our partnership with GWEC to help make this a reality, matching workforce needs for training and delivering a powerful proposition for investors, policymakers, OEMs and other stakeholders”.
GWEC and GWO are currently cooperating a report on the job creation and workforce training needs in global offshore wind markets, to be released in the third quarter.
Global renewables jobs growth could exceed by four to one the posts lost in the energy transition, according to figures released in October by the International Renewable Energy Agency(Irena), which calculates a record 12 million people were working in clean energy at the end of last year, 1.25 million of which were in the wind sector.
China continued to dominate global employment, accounting for 39% of all jobs, followed by Brazil, India and the US. Nations highlighted by Irena as creating new roles include Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Colombia and Russia.
