Offshore wind employs 100,000 by 2030

THE NUMBER of people working in the UK offshore wind industry will surge to almost 100,000 by 2030, according to a new report.

The Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) study found that the sector currently supports more than 31,000 jobs, which is a 16 per cent increase on the 26,000 jobs reported in last year’s survey.

Of these, 19,600 are direct jobs (solely in offshore wind) and 11,500 are indirect, such as supply chain companies which manufacture products for the industry. However, the report forecasts that by 2030 the industry will employ 97,465 people, 61,361 of those being direct and 36,104 indirect jobs.

The report also states that between 2022 and 2030, the industry will see £155bn of private investment in new offshore wind projects.

The UK Offshore Wind Skills Intelligence Report described the forecasts as “nothing short of extraordinary” and said that they “underline the incredible resilience of the offshore wind industry and its ability to continue to be the clean energy backbone of the UK’s economic renaissance”.

The OWIC said the increases reflect the expansion of the UK’s total pipeline of offshore wind projects at all stages of development. OWIC’s People & Skills workstream is led by RenewableUK’s deputy chief executive Melanie Onn, who said: “This report shows that we’re making rapid progress in seizing the economic benefits of the Green Industrial Revolution, and that we’ll need to continue to grow fast to ensure that we meet the Government’s target of 50 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 - a fivefold increase in our current capacity.”

The report the English region with the highest proportion of posts is Yorkshire and the Humber, with 15 per cent