Out-Law News 2 min. read
23 Sep 2013, 10:39 am
In its latest study of employment at wind, wave and tidal energy firms, researchers working on behalf of trade body RenewableUK found a 74% increase in jobs in the sector since its previous report in 2010. Together, the three industries now directly employ 18,465 people full-time, with a further 15,908 people employed indirectly by the supply chain.
The report showed particular growth in the offshore wind subsector, where the number of direct jobs doubled from 3,151 to 6,830 between 2010 and 2013. Of the 70,000 jobs it predicted could be created in the renewables industry over the next decade, nearly half of those would be in offshore wind, it said.
"There are tens of thousands of people employed in skilled jobs the length and breadth of the country building a world-leading industry in the UK and providing clean, reliable energy," said Maria McCaffery, RenewableUK's chief executive.
"Industry and Government need to work side by side to back this workforce and the growth they generate. If the UK gets this right our wind, wave and tidal industries could employ more than 70,000 people over the next decade. The offshore wind sector alone could be employing nearly 45,000 workers in the 2020s," she said.
However, the report warned that without sufficient certainty around future levels of deployment of renewable generation technologies, the success of the industry could not be guaranteed. It examined a number of different deployment scenarios to assess growth prospects in each of the three sectors, and found that there would actually be a reduction in the number of people employed in the offshore wind sector under its most conservative deployment estimates.
Researchers from IFF Research, commissioned jointly by RenewableUK and Energy and Utility Skills, interviewed 237 companies supplied by Renewable UK for the purposes of the report. It found a diverse range of employment opportunities across the renewables sector, with the largest number - 30% of the total - working in construction and installation. 25% of workers were in planning and development, 18% in support services, 16% in operations and maintenance and 10% in manufacturing.
The report also highlighted the fact that smaller businesses were at the heart of the renewables sector; with 56% of employers in the wind, wave and tidal industries employing fewer than 25 people. 80% of firms employed fewer than 250 people, it found.
The Government published its long-term 'industrial strategy' for the offshore wind industry last month, with a focus on growing the UK's manufacturing supply chain so that more of the work and jobs were done at home. According to the strategy, UK offshore wind has the potential to create 30,000 jobs and contribute £7 billion to the economy by 2020, based on the installation to 16GW of generation capacity within this timeframe. Increased manufacturing exports could add even more to those benefits.
