Wind energy industry can create 3.3 million wind power jobs globally over the next five years thanks to major industry expansion, according to Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).
This figure includes direct jobs in both onshore and offshore wind, and covers the entire value chain of the sector: project planning and development; manufacturing; installation; operation and maintenance (O&M); and decommissioning.
The wind industry has generated nearly 1.2 million jobs globally to date by installing 751 GW of wind power capacity, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
The world’s leading wind energy countries are home to hundreds of thousands of direct jobs in the wind industry. As of 2020, there were approximately 550,000 wind energy workers in China, 260,000 in Brazil, 115,000 in the US and 63,000 in India, according to a global survey by GWEC Market Intelligence.
An additional 470 GW of new onshore and offshore wind capacity will be installed between 2021-2025, GWEC Market Intelligence forecasts.
Many of 3.3 million jobs will be locally based, such as for the construction and O&M phase of projects. The majority of these jobs will be created in high growth wind markets including China, US, India, Germany, UK, Brazil, France, Sweden, Spain, South Africa, and Taiwan.
“The wind sector is well-placed to be a driver of a just transition, with offshore wind in particular offering a response to labour market disruption in the offshore oil and gas and marine engineering sectors. Governments must ensure that green recovery policies are in place to bring dislocated workers with us on the transition to a more sustainable future,” Joyce Lee, Head of Policy and Projects at GWEC, said.
The forecast for job creation is based on global studies by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on job creation for onshore and offshore wind projects from 2017 and 2018, as well as market growth data from GWEC Market Intelligence.