Wind Industry Jobs
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INTRODUCTION
Bob Dylan’s words so elegantly composed in a song encompasses it all- The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind. The wind energy sector is the way forward and opens a window of opportunities for both employers and employees holding potentially better jobs prospects than the fossil fuel Industry as the demand spreads worldwide. The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) expects a market growth of 25 % by the end of 2009 compared with last year. Over the past five years, 33 new jobs have been created everyday in wind power. By 2020, jobs in wind energy will more than double from 154,000 to 325,000. The industry employs individual’s in various specialist areas such as manufacturing and project development. In Europe in 2007, the sector employed 154,000 people with 108,600 in direct jobs and the rest indirectly. The main employers are turbine manufacturers followed by component manufacturers and project developers. At present 75% of all direct wind energy jobs are to be found in Denmark, Germany and Spain. The Danish company, Vestas is the global leader in turbines and the Spanish company, Iberdrola is the world’s largest wind-energy producer. However, other countries such as France, UK and Italy are making fast progress. Even large companies are now adding chief sustainability officers. Organisations such as Google pride itself with having a 'green energy czar'.
Wind power is a form of kinetic energy that uses wind to generate electricity. It is abundant and a long term solution to many energy requirements. Wind power is fuel free during its operational lifetime and therefore the cost of producing wind energy can be predicted with great certainty. The wind industry currently produces about 1.5% of worldwide electricity usage and this is up from 0.1 % in 1997. In 2008, 3 % of all new capacity in the EU was from wind power and by implementing wind power this replaces fuel and carbon dioxide emissions. European companies have two thirds of the €35 billion global market for wind power technology.
The driving forces behind the wind industry growth are the continuous improvement in technology that has enabled dramatic reductions in the cost of wind power and secondly government support and policies. Wind energy has become such a strong driving force that Barack Obama is making $787 billion (€608 billion) available with $500 million going to workforce training for renewable and energy efficiency careers. Furthermore the EU’s Economic Recovery Plan is worth about €5 billion with €565 million going to specific offshore wind projects, including the first stage of a North Sea offshore grid.
As of 2009 over 80 countries around the world are using wind power on a commercial basis. The sector is doing well in attracting new sources of finance which are financed by institutional investors and from power company balance sheets instead of finance from banks to provide debt finance for projects. Indeed wind power investments carry more economic certainty than other energy investments since investors are not exposed to unpredictable fuel and carbon prices. In addition wind power is increasingly recognized as an important instrument in leveling off the impact of today’s economic recession. Countries such as Germany, Denmark and Spain are becoming major users of wind energy. Interest in wind power is also growing in countries such as India, China, and Australia. The Global Wind Energy Council reports that China will add more wind power capacity in 2009 than any other country. It could add 10,000 megawatts (MW) of additional capacity in 2009. One megawatt can power about 1,000 households in the West.
