GWO and GWEC join forces to power the global wind energy workforce.

Global Wind Organisation (GWO) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) have signed a partnership agreement to highlight the importance of safety, training and job creation to power wind energy development and the global energy transition.

• Global Wind Organisation (GWO) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) have signed a partnership agreement to highlight the importance of safety, training and job creation to power wind energy development and the global energy transition.
• Currently wind energy provides 1.2 million jobs globally, according to IRENA’s Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review 2019,with the job creation potential increasing as new onshore and offshore wind markets develop around the world.
• The wind energy industry is a major opportunity for countries to create high-skilled, local jobs to boost economic growth and reach their Paris Agreement goals.

Copenhagen – Global Wind Organisation (GWO) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) have  partnered to ensure the wind industry creates sufficient levels of skill in, safety, technical and other essential areas to power wind energy development and meet the huge increase of jobs required to meet the global energy transition.

The two organisations have signed a memorandum of understanding to leverage shared resources, including unique data sets, analytical and forecasting capabilities, which will provide valuable insights to all wind industry stakeholders.

Jakob Lau Holst, CEO of Global Wind Organisation, explains: “The GWO Wind Industry Database (WINDA) contains the most comprehensive set of workforce training information in the world. Almost 90,000 people are now trained to GWO standard at centres in 40+ countries.

“To support demand in new markets, the industry needs insight, forecasting and analysis. Therefore we are working with GWEC, alongside which we can provide a new and powerful proposition for investors,policymakers, OEMs and other stakeholders”.

Ben Backwell, CEO of the Global Wind Energy Council, added: “The wind energy industry has already created 1.2 million jobs worldwide according to IRENA, and this number will continue to grow as demandfor wind energy increases with the global energy transition. We want to help the market answer challenging questions about where jobs will be needed most to meet demand, and outline what training will be required to develop a workforce that is knowledgeable and sustainable to, quite literally, build the wind markets of tomorrow.

"This collaboration is the first step in helping to produce a coherent road map 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”.

The first output of the collaboration will see GWO and GWEC produce a report on job creation and workforce training needs in global offshore wind markets, to be released in Q2 2020.

27 November 2019

GWEC