Global wind industry requires almost 600,000 technicians by 2027

Nearly 600,000 skilled workers will be required to construct, install, operate and maintain the global wind fleet by 2027 alone, according to Global Wind Energy Council’s (GWEC) report on Wednesday.

According to the report, Global Wind Workforce Outlook 2023 – 2027, a skilled workforce is needed to install and maintain the global wind fleet, which is set to grow by 74% from the installed capacity of 906 gigawatts (GW) in 2022 to 1,581 GW in 2027.

The report highlights that the wind industry this year has passed the milestone of 1 TW (terawatt) of installed wind capacity globally, and is on-track to install another TW within this decade.

Overall forecasts suggest an increase of at least 17% of new qualified personnel every year are required in the construction, installation (C&I) and operation and maintenance (O&M) segments, raising the total number of skilled workers from 489,600 in 2022 to 574,175 in 2027.

According to the report, due to increases in MW capacity and accompanying attrition, about 43% of the 574,200 technical workforce will need to be recruited between 2023 and 2027.

The analysis found that workforce needs will grow more rapidly offshore, increasing 79% from 2022 to 2027 compared to 12% onshore within the same timeframe.

‘By the end of 2027, the cumulative worldwide operational wind fleet is poised to exceed 1,500 GW, more than double the level attained prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,’ the report stated.

• C&I
• GWEC
• O&M