Between 50,000 and 75,000 new offshore wind jobs will need to be filled as work to roll out Round 3 offshore wind farms starts in earnest this year. By way of an example, Matt Britton, Operations Manager of London Array, estimates that 35 technicians will be needed just over the next couple of years by his organisation alone.
While John Best, Chief Executive of the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR), estimates that around 80% of the skills sets across the oil and gas industry are [and will be] transferable into the renewable energy industry, he warns that “more joined up thinking is required” to satisfy the growing demand for technicians and engineers for offshore wind, “especially as an ageing workforce in the energy sector means it is vital young people are engaged”.
In answer to his call, several counties around the UK are revamping their training and education provision to focus on the changing needs of the energy sector. Best’s own organisation for example, rolled out Skills for Energy three years ago to facilitate access to training, encourage people into the industry, and better engage training providers with industry. Working with organisations such as Mainstream Renewables, EDF, EU Skills, Shell and Lowestoft College, Skills for Energy has successfully completed a pilot and now plans to consolidate its position.
Furthermore, Skills for Energy has been involved in masterminding an £11 million Energy Skills Centre, which will open within two years in Great Yarmouth or Lowestoft (Norfolk). The centre will provide training to around 20,000 individuals each year. “This is not about a building but about a flagship centre which will unite existing training providers with the people who need the skills,” explains Celia Anderson, an EEEGR Director. “We believe this is the best way to avert a critical skills shortage.”
Apprenticeships key
Down the coast in neighbouring Kent, a new, state-of-the art facility has opened called the Swale Skills Centre. Designed to deliver training in engineering and sustainable technologies, the centre provides bespoke courses on electrical engineering and electronics, mechanical maintenance, renewable energy grid installations, to name but a few, and is currently devising a Wind Turbine Technician Apprenticeship alongside RenewablesUK, the UK renewable energy trade body, and the local wind industry. It will be the UK’s first Modern Apprenticeship for the renewables industry.
DONG Energy is involved in this scheme, announcing back in November that it will take on up to eight apprentices in 2011. “The wind energy industry needs bright up and coming young people to continue its rapid growth in the UK. Operating and maintaining large scale turbines offshore is no easy task so we must have the right people with the right skills;” Peter Gedbjerg, Vice President, Country Manager for DONG Energy Power UK, said at the time.
DONG Energy will sponsor at least four apprentices from September 2011 with a minimum investment of £100 000. The apprentices will have on site training at DONG Energy’s three existing offshore wind sites in the UK as well as at their projects that are under construction. Each apprentice will spend three years with the company. The first two years will consist of schooled training in workshop environments and the apprentices will spend the third year based at DONG Energy offices and wind farms learning on the job skills.
“We’re benefiting from building wind farms in the UK and from the high quality skills pool available so it’s fair that we put something back. Contributing to the skills pool by providing training and a potential career for young people is part of our strategy,” Gedbjerg continued.
Health and safety first
While deepening the reserve of technical skills needed by the offshore wind industry is clearly one of the UK’s priorities, another area where more time and money need to be spent is in health and safety (H&S).
There may be a growing number of new trainees as well as technicians and engineers with the right skills moving into offshore wind from other areas of the economy such as construction and the armed forces, but the unique environment in which they will be expected to work does pose certain constraints. One of these is the need to undergo specific H&S training.
One company offering such training is marine contractor, Gardline, which recently established East Coast Training Services, an H&S training centre developed in conjunction with professional safety training provider, Petans.
Set to start an Offshore Transfer Training Course this year, the centre will train around 40 individuals per annum. “The growth in the offshore wind industry has pushed up demand for training and we have become quite concerned about safety and the level of competency among technicians,” explains Sue Crothers, Gardline’s Marketing Coordinator (Renewables).
“Working with Petans, our aim is to transfer H&S best practices in the oil and gas industry onto the offshore wind sector,” Crothers goes on. “H&S is a big problem among new recruits, who have no experience working in the marine environment.” Crothers explains that while many entrants into the offshore wind industry come from the oil and gas sector and therefore have offshore experience, many come from land-based industries such as the automotive industry.
“Everything is new to them and therefore many find the process of adapting to offshore work stressful. What we try to do is prepare them for life offshore in a controlled yet realistic setting.” In preparation for its soon to be launched H&S courses, Gardline and Petans have even constructed a full-size replica of an offshore wind turbine transition piece, which trainees can use to practice transferring on and off vessels out at sea in a real situation rather than just through simulations.
No time to lose
Gardline and Petans are committed to filling an existing gap in training provision through their hands-on H&S courses, but the companies are concerned that the offshore wind industry needs to pay more attention to H&S. “We saw the wind industry was taking too long to develop a standard for H&S training, and so went ahead and designed our own course,” says Michael Wilder, Petans’ General Manager. He goes on to explain that RenewablesUK appears to be dragging its heels in developing an industry-wide standard that his organisation and others like it could then use to develop H&S courses. He also wishes that the trade body would be a little more inclined to adopt tried and tested oil and gas standards, rather than reinventing the proverbial wheel.
Why is RenewablesUK reticent to follow oil and gas’s lead and use oil and gas standards and real-life training? The answer, Wilder believes, is cost. “Very few organisations have the capital and nerve to develop an installation like ours. The problem is cost. There is a lot of money in oil and gas and since accidents like Piper Alpha, it’s an industry that spends a lot on safety. Within the wind industry, there is less money about as electricity is cheap,” he says.
Whatever the barriers faced by the offshore wind industry, H&S – as Gardline and Petans point out – must be paramount moving deeper into Round 3 and further away from land. All developers are required to consider the risks their teams face out at sea and the practical problems of guaranteeing health and safety is perhaps the biggest challenge they now face.
“”Let’s be under no illusion about the scale of the task at hand,” said Chris Lawson, Advice Group Director of Royal Haskoning, in a recent piece for Offshore Wind. “The offshore wind industry is breaking new ground – we are passing through a transition between what the oil and gas industry deem reasonable, and what is required in practical terms to deliver offshore wind.”
Despite Michael Wilder’s concerns, RenewablesUK is working to roll out standards and, above all, ensure best practices are shared (for example, through its Lessons Learnt database available to all industry players). However, Chris Lawson believes the companies themselves need to take the lead. “The developers who are not afraid to take a proactive and innovative approach to interpreting existing [H&S] legislation, and to finding solutions to the new challenges, will reap the rewards,” he predicts.
Gardline and Petans are clearly doing just that.
For additional information:
