Working With the Wind: Growing Employment in the European and US Wind Power SectorsA new report published by the European Wind Energy Association looks at the rapidly growing wind sector jobs market, throwing up some interesting trends, and highlighting a number of opportunities and challenges for the future. Alasdair Cameron reports.In these days of economic doom and gloom, ‘green jobs’ has become a familiar refrain among political leaders seeking to articulate a vision for the future. In Europe and North America, environmental technology is being increasingly touted as the next big thing. As one senior British politician recently put it, ‘there has been enough financial engineering, it is time for some real engineering.’Of course, those involved in the renewable energy industry have always predicted that it would one day be an essential part of the economy and a key sector for growth. Now, a new study by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) is putting some numbers to the rhetoric, revealing that the wind energy sector alone now employs more than 150,000 people across Europe, with new prospects emerging all the time.By sending questionnaires to companies working in the wind energy sector, EWEA has been able to piece together a revealing image of a truly diverse and international industry. From turbine and component manufacture, to project management and engineering, the industry currently employs around 108,000 individuals directly across the continent. This is more than twice the number employed in 2002, the last time a survey was conducted, and represents an annual increase of more than 12,000 jobs a year. Add to this those employed indirectly as component manufacturers, consultants, legal professionals, financial services providers and so on, and this number increases by 50% again, to around 154,000.Of this total, turbine and component manufacturing account for the lion’s share, with these two sectors making 59% of direct employment and 69% of total employment. This fact has helped to ensure that those countries which were first to adopt wind and develop their industries are likely to be those which continue see the highest benefits in terms of employment in the future, even as their domestic demand slows down.Other key areas of employment are wind farm development (16%), and installation operation and maintenance (11%). These are the kinds of jobs which are most easily transferable to new markets, and which make up the bulk of employment in many countries. Utilities and power providers support an extra 9%, while consultants and research and development make up 3% and 1% respectively. Finally, the specialist financial aspect of wind power development makes up around 0.3% of total direct employment.Germany, Denmark and SpainAs with so many things in the world of renewable energy, Germany is the leader in wind energy employment, accounting for nearly 38,000 direct jobs, rising to 84,300 if indirect employment is included. In many ways this lead is unsurprising given its long-term position as one of the major wind energy markets, and indeed with more than 23,000 MW of working wind, it remains the country with the second highest installed wind power capacity (having just been overtaken by the US in 2008).Not only does Germany have a large domestic demand for wind power technology, but the country is home to two major wind turbine manufacturers – Enercon and Nordex – as well as some smaller companies such as REpower and BARD Engineering, and a large specialist engineering and energy sector. German designers and consultancies have also been crucial to the development of wind turbine technology over the years, and are well represented in the employment stakes. Interestingly, the figures (combined EWEA and the Federal Ministry of Employment) show that only around a third of wind power jobs in Germany are direct. The explanation for this is the large number of German component |