Engineering opportunities in offshore wind

While the nuclear sector remains has been beset by indecision, and other areas of industry are still reeling from the decision to leave the EU, the extraordinary ambition of the UK offshore sector is relatively undimmed.

Offshore wind already contributes 5 per cent of the UK’s electricity and supports around 15,000 jobs. Here in the UK, the aim is to source 15 per cent of our energy from renewables by 2020 and by the end of this decade the UK’s offshore wind sector is expected to have doubled in size.

Unsurprisingly, according to those close to the industry, all of this growth and optimism, and consequent demand for a raft of technical skills, mean that it’s a pretty good moment to consider a career in the sector.

Bessie Lau-Norris is a senior recruitment specialist at Denmark’s Dong Energy, whose Hornsea Project One wind farm, currently in construction just off the Yorkshire coast, will be the world’s first offshore facility of its kind to exceed 1GW in capacity.