The Erasmus+ VET Wind II project led by Noorderpoort College from the Netherlands and funded by the Erasmus+ programme, enjoys an exceptional group dynamic and lively discussion around the current landscape of offshore wind energy education across partner countries.
The VET WIND II partners have a common goal in mind: to consider the possibilities of harmonisation of education and training for the offshore wind energy sector. All partners working together in this project are from countries around the North Sea: the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Germany. Both schools and businesses are working together.
The aim of the project is to share good practices and collect information about education in maintenance and repair in wind energy. 4 partner meetings have been organized, in Groningen (the Netherlands), Aalborg (Denmark), Egersund (Norway) and Hamburg (Germany). At these meetings, good practices were shared, the research methodology was set up and local companies and stakeholders were visited or invited to share their view on possible harmonization.
To conduct the inventory of technical wind energy education, all partners contributed to the research by doing interviews with local stakeholders. All input has been assembled to create an overview of needs of business and education in wind energy, and the current state of wind technician courses.
The most important question that was asked, is whether harmonization of wind energy education would be possible and desired in the near future. Though most stakeholders respond very positive, the question of ‘how’ still remains. For more information, check out our inventory of wind energy education around the North Sea, under ‘project findings’.
To share outcomes with the stakeholders in each country, multiplier events were organized. In lively discussions and small working groups, local stakeholders joined the conversation about concrete possibilities of harmonization in the wind energy sector.