|
Workforce Committee
From think-tank to action: The workforce committee addresses key wind energy barriers
to success regarding potential workforce deficits and specific
opportunities for research, education and industry partnerships to
maximize industry efficiency and profitability in order to meet the
goals of 2030.
Join the members of The Wind Alliance and be an active part of the solution.
Britt Theisman (AWEA): Currently, the U.S. has about 2,500 people trained for wind turbine operations and maintenance, but the 20 by 2030 goal will require 70,000.
Dr. Andrew Swift
July 14, 2009
Before the Committee on Science and Technology Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, U.S. House of Representatives
The DOE 2030 report estimates a wind energy workforce of 180,000 direct jobs at full capacity. Estimates by Texas Tech University economics faculty and Wind Science and Engineering staff estimate that approximately 20 to 25,000 of these will be professional jobs requiring a university education. Significant wind energy programs at universities require active and knowledgeable faculty and strong
student enrollment. It is very important that universities partner in
real and synergistic ways with industry and DOE laboratory personnel in
these research programs. Not only do the faculty and student
researchers bring new ideas and innovation to the research agenda, they
bring the connections back to the university for new programs in wind
energy and opportunities for students. Wind energy is strongly
multidisciplinary and faculty and students are needed to support this
industry not only in engineering for new turbine designs and
development, but also in atmospheric science for wind and power forecasting and resource assessment,
in ecology to study and minimize wildlife impacts, in project
management and financial analysis, in agriculture and economics to
integrate the technology with agriculture interests throughout the
central US wind corridor, and so forth. Inclusion of strong university,
industry and government research and education funding and partnerships
are crucial to effective wind energy workforce development in support of this industry.
Click here for the Full Report
20 Percent Wind Energy by 2030 (pages 70-71): “One concern is that the number of students in power engineering
programs has been dropping in recent years. Currently, U.S. graduate
power engineering programs produce about 500 engineers per year; in the
1980s, this number approached 2,000.”
U.S. DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Report
|
|
