The ERASMUS+ project VET WIND II aims at considering and researching possibilities for harmonizing education in (offshore) wind energy. Wind energy is a booming and international business, with growing numbers and growing need for personnel. For education to be able to prepare students to work in this industry, more cooperation is needed. For this goal, research has been conducted.
This overview gives a state of affairs of the education and business in all partner countries: The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Norway. For all topics, an overview for each country is given to make an analysis of differences and similarities.
This report highlights the main results from the various interviews that were conducted with educational institutes and business partners in the (both on- and offshore) wind energy sector during the period, December 2018 and January 2019. All of the project partners have each interviewed several people to create an overview of the current status of the (on- and offshore) wind industry sector in their respective country.
Main findings:
- Finding skilled wind technicians is a struggle in each partner country.
- Harmonization would be valuable, but unclear how it would be delivered.
- It is difficult to find skilled technicians and also difficult to find apprenticeship placements due to high training costs. Apprenticeship system varies from country to country.
- GWO standards are generally accepted, but mainly for HSE.
- BZEE standards are suitable for the technical element of the profession but are not consistently accepted.