Offshore wind staff demand to triple by 2030, says Rystad Energy

Rystad Energy estimates offshore wind installed capacity could rise to 110GW by 2025 and 250GW by 2030. This prolific growth will require a lot of skilled employees. In our analysis we have calculated the staffing needs in the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) workers – one year of full-time employment for one person regardless of actual hours – and included only direct and indirect jobs driven by offshore wind capacity deployment globally.

Direct jobs relate to development manufacturing, construction, installation and the operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms. Indirect jobs relate to materials and services consumed, such as workers in steel plants supporting offshore wind turbines, electronics workers at companies supplying nacelle components, and staff of renewable energy regulatory institutions.

The jobs are grouped as construction and development (C&D) – which are typically capital expenditures – and operation and maintenance (O&M) roles – which relate to operational expenditures. The C&D jobs are expected to account for most of the employment over the next decade, although its share of the total employment decreases as we approach 2030.

O&M jobs, meanwhile, driven by the installed capacity of wind farms, have contributed about 7% of the total job count in 2020 and will make up about 12% in 2025. With a rapid increase in offshore wind installed capacity, O&M will gain a larger share of the total jobs. C&D roles will still dominate, however, because a typical offshore wind farm spends 60-70% of its capex in the lead-up to its commissioning, which takes between one and three years.

C&D roles related to manufacturing – turbines, cables, substations and foundations – contribute about 66% of the total potential, while installation jobs account for 10% and project development for 4%. O&M adds a 20% share to the total jobs potential.

By 2030, turbine manufacturing will continue to create most of the jobs, accounting for 54% of the total. Therefore, turbine manufacturers such as Siemens Gamesa, Vestas, Goldwind and GE Renewable Energy are expected to employ additional labour and establish more factories for bigger turbines in the coming years.

Meanwhile, foundation manufacturing contributes 8% of the total jobs in 2030, followed by foundation installation with 5%, potentially leading to major employment opportunities.

Rystad Energy estimates that Europe, Asia outside of China, and the Americas will drive the global jobs creation in the offshore wind sector. Europe, which dominates the offshore wind installed capacity globally, could expect to see demand for jobs more than triple by 2030, from 110,000 jobs in 2020 to around 350,000. The expected growth will be especially noticeable over the next five years, as annual capacity additions in the region are increasing and the installed base is growing.

Asia, excluding China, will see a major jobs boost, most noticeable in the second half of this decade, as South Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Taiwan are expected to contribute significant offshore wind capacity. China, meanwhile, could see demand for jobs stagnate towards 2030, despite the current activity ramp-up. 

“Oil and gas workers will also benefit from this expected growth in offshore wind employment globally, as they share some skills sets and essential offshore knowledge. Offshore wind areas such as foundation manufacturing, offshore construction, project development, and O&M have been highly relevant to oil and gas operations,“ says Alexander Fløtre, Rystad Energy’s product manager for Offshore Wind.

Offshore oil and gas and offshore wind operations have similar safety standards, with workers requiring at least basic offshore emergency training and often helicopter underwater escape training before deploying to offshore projects. This could be a great opportunity to recover some of the talent lost during the oil and gas industry downturn, especially O&M, project development and engineering jobs.