Industry report. The offshore skills challenge for renewables

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1 Industry report The offshore skills challenge for renewables

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3 A general forecast for renewables The renewable sector in the UK has grown significantly in the last 10 years. According to a report by the Renewable Energy Association* in April 2012, the sector as it stood was worth 12.5 billion and crucially supported 110,000 jobs. In order to hit the targets of renewable energy supply the government has set for 2020; this figure will have to increase to at least 400,000 jobs with a turnover doubling to 24billion. Much of this growth will be fuelled by offshore wind. Round 3 offshore wind farms are currently in the consenting stage and design and construction is likely to begin as early as The wave and tidal sector will also contribute as although technologies are still largely in the R&D and demonstration phase, all that is required for is for a developer to take the initiative and array scale deployment can begin. This is likely to be around 2014/15 although the timing is up to the developers and utilities companies deciding to make the investment. The offshore skills challenge for renewables 3

4 The UK is the world leader in offshore wind and generates more energy from installed turbines than the rest of Europe combined. 4 The offshore skills challenge for renewables

5 The current shortage The UK is the world leader in offshore wind and generates more energy from installed turbines than the rest of Europe combined. Thus far the skills shortage has not seriously hampered the growth of the sector but it could be argued that the lack of experience on some projects has led to reduced efficiency and increased costs. This is to some extent to be expected in such a young industry. It has become clear, however, that key roles within all phases of development must be filled with both skilled and experienced individuals. This will only get harder with the number of concurrent projects increasing as round 3 gets underway. Another drain on the skills resource in the UK is the growth of the sector in Europe. We are increasingly being asked for candidates who will work on contract roles across Europe particularly in Benelux, Germany and Denmark. These roles can pay significantly more (one particular HSE role was paying the equivalent of 70 per hour in Germany for a skillset that normally commands around 45 per hour in the UK) which makes them very attractive options and tempts away some of our most skilled personnel. At present the areas that we are finding have the worst skills gap are: Commissioning Engineers Senior Authorised Persons Management Level Positions Environmental Impact Analysts In general, candidates with the relevant offshore tickets such as Working and Rescue at Height and BOSIET are also in short supply. Oil and gas skills transfer One of the most common requests we have from clients is that candidates have oil and gas experience if they haven t worked in offshore wind before. This makes a lot of sense as there is a great deal of crossover between the skills needed in both industries particularly when it comes to working offshore. However, there are a number of challenges in engaging the talent pool from the oil and gas industry: The most obvious and in some ways the most challenging one is simply money. The oil industry is in a very healthy place at present and it can afford to pay top rates for its workforce, whereas the renewables industry is still generally a lower paid sector. The cause for this discrepancy is that fundamentally oil and gas hiring is fuelled by profit, unlike the renewables industry which is still receiving the majority of its finance from investment. The primary goal for many companies involved with offshore wind is to reduce the cost of delivering wind energy and therefore high spending on skills is rarely considered an option. There is also a big culture difference between the two sectors, again largely due to the differences in funding. This is generally an easier challenge to overcome but it does mean that there are many candidates in both industries who wouldn t consider a move between the two. Location is another consideration. In the UK the majority of offshore skills in oil and gas are located in Aberdeen. Conspicuously, most renewable companies who are working in Scotland have chosen Edinburgh, Glasgow or Dundee as their base in order to avoid having to compete with oil and gas salaries and rates. All of this aside, for candidates who are currently working in the oil and gas sector there are a number of benefits to making the move: Renewable energy is a good long term career choice for younger candidates who are looking to a future where reliance on fossil fuels is reduced in favour of renewable and sustainable technologies. It is also an emerging sector and therefore has real opportunities for individuals to make their mark and define how the industry develops. The global opportunities in renewable energy are also not confined to the same areas where there are oil reserves and therefore a different and wider range of global locations are available. The primary reason for many moves into the renewable industry, however, are environmental and ethical motivations and it is important not to discount these. The offshore skills challenge for renewables 5

6 Other relevant industries Skill demand in the renewable energy sector will only increase in the next decade, however, the volume of talent joining the industry at entry level is reducing. For every 3 students that join an IT university course, only 1 will enter into an engineering based discipline. This coupled with renewables being an emerging market means that the industry will have to consider transferring talent from other sectors, and re-training them in the short to medium term. Given the potential difficulties in bringing across candidates from the oil and gas sector, which would otherwise be the most obvious choice, companies will have to look further into other engineering sectors. The disciplines that should be of significant interest for clients are those with similar, core technical elements such as defence and manufacturing, and also those that are highly regulated (i.e construction or offshore regulations). Candidates that have the relevant construction, engineering, or offshore experience, albeit not within renewables, should be able to transfer to a new industry sector. People who have worked in traditional power generation and power transmission and distribution industries will be ideally suited to this type of industry as they are able to appreciate the main difficulties of large construction projects and the associated CDM regulations. Candidates with high previous exposure to electrical, mechanical and civil disciplines through the planning, design and construction stages, should be well suited and transferable. In addition, the scrutiny and health and safety regulations associated with renewable energy projects, in particular offshore projects, will favour candidates who have experience in industries where documentation and high efficiency is essential. This would include those working in industries such as pharmaceutical and aerospace. In order to facilitate the move from these industries into offshore wind a number of initiatives have been launched including the Transition Training Network which is a collaboration between Scottish Renewables and the National Skills Academy for Power. There are also a number of training and education programmes set up by the government and other public sector bodies such as the Wind Turbine Technician modern apprenticeship that has been running since 2010 at Carnegie College in Fife and the Skills for Energy Partnership which is currently only in the east of England but is an industry led partnership with education and the public sector. In Scotland there is a real awareness of the need for transition training. To provide the short-term training required, Skills Development Scotland has been supporting collaborative developments between groups of firms and training organisations to develop provision and co-ordinate recruitment onto tailored transition training courses through the Energy Skills Challenge Fund. The Challenge Fund has a clear focus on delivering employment opportunities for participants. Currently the fund is supporting 9 providers across Scotland to develop tailored courses designed to fast track people into this sector. These include electrical control and instrumentation, commercial diving and wind turbine technical skills. For more details you can visit: As employers find their candidate pools shrinking in the coming years they will need to consider candidates from such routes into the industry and look to understand where they can strategically compromise on the experience level of workers How can we help Huxley Engineering has recently opened an office in Edinburgh with the sole focus on the renewable energy market. This decision was taken due to the huge increase in activity in this sector and because it complements Huxley s current engineering offering across other disciplines. From this office, Huxley will be covering both permanent and contract recruitment covering most disciplines for pre-construction, construction and operations and maintenance. At present the core disciplines that Huxley Engineering recruit for are: Electrical Mechanical HSEQ Civil Senior Appointments Project Management Planning Marine Site and Construction Management Within these disciplines Huxley Engineering provides fully certified candidates for both onshore and offshore projects on a permanent and contract basis. All candidates are fully reference checked, IR35 compliant (if contract) and authorised to work in the UK. As well as our UK operation, Huxley Engineering can provide candidates on a global level. Huxley Engineering is set up and capable to recruit throughout the world, whether that be UK candidates working abroad or locally sourced candidates to the relevant projects. This new office allows Huxley Engineering to offer a complete solution to its clients with renewable energy from Edinburgh ( ), oil and gas from Aberdeen ( ), power generation and sales from Manchester ( ), power T&D from Birmingham ( ) as well as general engineering from Birmingham, Manchester, Reading ( ) and Bristol ( ). 6 The offshore skills challenge for renewables

7 Renewable energy is a good long term career choice for younger candidates who are looking to a future where reliance on fossil fuels is reduced in favour of renewable and sustainable technologies. The offshore skills challenge for renewables 7

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