Job opportunities being missed in offshore wind, report claims

The report – ‘Green Jobs: Prospects For Creating Jobs From Offshore Wind In The UK’ – says, despite having the greatest offshore wind potential of any country in the world, the UK is poorly placed to take advantage of this natural resource. Currently just 700 workers are employed in the sector and there is only one UK-based factory – Vestas Blades on the Isle of Wight – manufacturing parts for wind turbines.

Matthew Lockwood, senior research fellow at the IPPR said: “Offshore wind has great potential for UK jobs but we risk being blown off course. The Government’s pledge to achieve ambitious renewable energy targets by 2020 shows it is serious about its potential but we need to follow through with concrete policies to create greater certainty for industry, maximise the potential for the UK economy and realise our environmental goals.”

The IPPR argues that, in order to encourage investment, the Government needs to create more certainty in the offshore wind market. It calls for the implementation of a number of measures which it believes will help to achieve this. These range from updating the National Grid’s infrastructure to accommodate large amounts of new offshore wind power, to creating a level playing field in the tax breaks available to offshore wind workers and those in competing sectors, such as oil and gas.

The IPPR would also like to see an ‘offshore wind investment programme’ to be run by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and administered through Regional Development Agencies (RDA) and UK Trade and Investment.  
The programme, as envisioned by the IPPR, would consist of: financial and tax incentives drawing together the disparate support currently available into clearly defined and focused packages; facilities and infrastructure measures, including identifying a site for a nearshore test facility; and short-term Government guarantees to underwrite financial support – including forcing publicly-owned banks to lend to the offshore wind sector.

The proposed programme would also give consideration to what could be done to encourage wind farm developers to source turbines and other parts from UK-based manufacturers, and work towards developing a strategic plan to attract and train a new workforce to take advantage of the new job opportunities.  

Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, said: “The offshore wind industry could create tens of thousands of good, green jobs in the UK ... The IPPR’s excellent analysis shows how this can be done through an offshore wind investment programme but this has to be matched by developing workforce skills – shortages of engineering and manufacturing skills must be addressed now as a green answer to the recession.”

Philip Wolfe, director general of Renewable Energy Association said: "The UK renewables sector has yet to receive any targeted support from Government during the recession and we are on tenterhooks for next week's Budget. The IPPR report illustrates exactly why, in the midst of recession, targeting measures at the renewables industry makes economic, as well as environmental sense.  

“70,000 jobs could be created in the offshore wind sector alone, if Government offers clear leadership including removing regulatory barriers for renewables and investing strategically in UK skills and manufacturing.  Across the entire renewables sector the employment figure would be nearer 200,000, with vast export opportunities."