OVERVIEW

This report highlights the opportunities for local and national governments to leverage renewable energy expansion to foster job, training and reskilling opportunities and create a skilled workforce for the energy transition.

KEY INSIGHTS

• By the end of 2027, the worldwide wind fleet will be roughly 1,581GW, more than double the level before the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The number of wind technicians that will require industry training will increase 17% from 489,600in 2022 to 574,200 in 2027. The number of new wind technicians is expected to increase by 48,800 on average per year from 2023 to 2027.
• At the end of 2022, 145,000 technicians (or 30% of the estimated workforce) already held at least one valid certificate from GWO’s Basic Safety Training (BST) Standard. This means that from 2023 to 2027 an additional 429,200 technicians will need wind industry training. More than 80% of these technicians will be required in 10 countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Japan, Kenya, South Korea and USA.
• Total wind technician workforce will grow most rapidly offshore (79% higher in 2027against 2022) compared to onshore (12% higher in 2027against 2022). By 2027, 87% of the technicians will be working onshore, mostly (and increasingly) within the operation & management segment.
• The model used for this annual Outlook focuses on the construction, installation (C&I), operation and maintenance (O&M) segments of wind farms. It does not include calculations of workforce needs in other segments of the project lifecycle, such as research and development, procurement, manufacturing (the most labour-intensive segment in certain markets), transport and logistics, decommissioning and repowering, etc.

Source: Global Wind Workforce Outlook 2023 – 2027 – Global Wind Energy Council (gwec.net)