Dogger Bank Wind Farm today hosts a supply chain event, focused around skills in offshore wind, a first for developer led supply chain events. Growth in the sector continues to accelerate and skills is high on the agenda for industry locally and nationally. The event will explore the skills challenge and how Dogger Bank Wind Farm is working to address this through industry and community engagement.
200 attendees have registered ahead of the event, highlighting the importance of skills to the supply chain in North East England, one of the largest and most established offshore wind clusters in the UK.
The event brings together regional and national industry experts as well as employees from the wind farm to discuss how developers can make a wider impact than job creation, by supporting activities in the areas impacted by their operations and beyond.
Tom Nightingale, North East Stakeholder Manager said:
Developing the talent of tomorrow is at the heart of our community investment for Dogger Bank and we are working with local authorities, skills providers and community groups across the North and North East of England to support this. As part of our supply chain initiatives in 2022, we are determined to raise skills to the top of the agenda through this event and look forward to sharing the knowledge and experience of our panel. We hope to educate and inspire the supply chain to support skills initiatives as well as learning from their own experiences.
Recruitment for the operations team continues to ramp up with leadership positions now filled in key areas as well as recently the first 10 Wind Turbine Technicians. New recruits have joined from within offshore wind as well as transferring from other sectors such as oil & gas and automotive, with a focus on recruiting a local and diverse team. Looking ahead, working with local industry groups and education institutions is essential to building a future skills pipeline. The skills event includes insights from Energi Coast skills group, the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC), Dogger Bank Community Fund and the Dogger Bank operations team.
Celia Anderson, Offshore Wind Sector Deal – Director of People & Skills said:
The offshore wind industry is experiencing huge growth and projects such as Dogger Bank Wind Farm play a key role in preparing the next generation for future roles with operational experience.
At the same time there are many opportunities to attract talent from other sectors and I am delighted to support this event and share how the UK’s offshore wind sector can successfully grow around regional clusters, whilst building a more diverse pipeline and workforce.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm will be located more than 130 km off the North East coast and will generate enough renewable energy to power six million UK homes. A joint venture between SSE Renewables, Equinor and Eni Plenitude, SSE Renewables is leading on Dogger Bank construction and delivery while Equinor will operate the wind farm for its lifetime, from a new base to be constructed at Port of Tyne.
