Career opportunities in offshore renewables

The fair winds and strong currents that have borne the UK offshore renewable energy sector along in recent years have become a little conflicted of late. Growing uncertainty arising from the long-awaited Energy Bill has interrupted growth, and a persistent shortage of engineering skills still threatens to hamper future progress.

The industry remains confident of its potential; 2012 was a record breaking year. The last of 175 turbines in the world’s largest operational offshore wind farm, the London Array, came online last month (April). Other large-scale developments are also coming to fruition in UK waters, such as Teesside, Gwynt y Mor off the coast of North Wales and Gunfleet Sands off the Essex coast, where the next generation of more powerful offshore turbines is being tested for the first time anywhere in the world. Government figures showed in March that 11.3 per cent of the nation’s electricity came from renewable sources in 2012, an increase of two per cent on the previous year.