North East England’s Offshore Wind Supply Chain Could Create 4,500 Green Jobs

As the energy sector seeks to add 4500 jobs over the next five years, the most targeted group are women. It’s part of a plan for companies in North East England to support the growing offshore renewables industry.

According to new research, two-thirds of the oil and gas companies in the North East of England say renewable energy from offshore wind is more important than their traditional sectors. Almost nine out of 10 say it’s a priority. It’s no surprise then that a predicted jobs boost is being talked about.

The slogan ‘Build Back Better’ has been thrown about a lot, but when it comes to the future of our offshore sector it could actually come true. If the 228 companies who were surveyed do that, they have hired almost as many people offshore as already exist in oil and gas and nuclear (10000). There are targets as well to support diversity – with women topping the list (1200), graduates (1000), apprentices (600), and 550 ex-forces personnel.

The most recent figures show that women make up around 16% of the offshore wind energy industry and it’ll be critical to get the right solutions to address this long-standing problem. Back in 2019, at the Women in Wind event in the 2019 Global Offshore Wind summit, Emma Pinchbeck from RenewableUK revealed that she has an ‘inclusion rider’ in her contract which allows her to spend time in her role as Deputy CEO working directly on diversity.  She highlighted how a diverse workforce is expected of the industry from stakeholders in a way not seen before. “For women, I think that problem of feeling outside of the club can be exacerbated by the fact that STEM education is still narrowly taught, and boys rather than girls are still taking it up more often in schools so you come into the industry with different skills or vocabulary; although I’ve also been struck that people with humanities backgrounds, or different educative histories often think more creatively about policy or technical problems – the diversity of knowledge is good!”

The recent research was driven by the Supply Chain Mapping 2020 project, managed by NOF, which worked with a dedicated task group, including Energi Coast’s Chairman James Ritchie and representatives from Equinor, RWE and SSE Renewables, GE Renewable Energy, and ORE Catapult.

One of the key areas of focus for the region’s offshore wind supply chain is innovation. Around 20% is invested in R&D projects such as robotics, AI, digitisation and manufacturing. However, companies reported that they want to see greater support from the Government. The argument was made that the local supply chain is missing out on business opportunities from UK projects and the Government needs to do more to support the supply chain.

Joanne Leng MBE, Deputy Chair of Energi Coast, said: “North East England has been active in the offshore wind sector since the early days of the industry. Since then, the region has become a key region for the offshore wind industry both in terms of developments such as the Dogger Bank Wind Farm and the RWE Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, and its diverse and expansive supply chain cluster’’.

“This has led to offshore wind becoming a priority for the region’s companies, especially in relation to the delivery of a post-COVID-19 green economic recovery, and this means ongoing support must be provided to the local supply chain to further develop their business in the sector and ensure diversification support is provided to new entrants coming into the market with transferable skills.”