While the growth of floating offshore wind offers an excellent opportunity to create employment and transition skills from oil and gas into a low carbon industry, the scale and rate of expansion will present real challenges in accessing the right people that have the skills and vocations to develop, deliver and operate projects.
In this context, the Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (FOW CoE) developed and delivered the “Floating Offshore Wind People, Skills and Vocations” project. This project, delivered in partnership with Opergy, has identified the key skills and jobs required to develop, deliver, operate and maintain a FOW wind farm, and assess the current and projected future access to these skills. This information can determine where skills access could be constrained in the future which could have a knock-on effect for the timely and cost effective delivery of FOW projects.
Key shortfalls in skills and jobs have been identified in development and consenting, electrical and high voltage electrical systems, digital skills and to a lesser extent most engineering disciples. The project has also highlighted the importance of minimising barriers to transitioning skills from the oil and gas sector to the floating offshore wind sector, particularly in the area of marine operations and operations and maintenance activities.
