Page 18 - Carmarthenshire Skills Report 2024

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This sector needs to be thought of in terms of a
new market that requires skills that slot into all
levels of that new market, currently only 0.3% of
Carmarthenshire residents work in this sector. This
is likely to grow over the next few years as major
projects in Carmarthen and neighbouring counties
start to gain traction.
The concern is skills demands in this sector will be
filled at the expense of other sectors, (and
potentially from neighbouring counties,) such as:
Construction, Manufacturing, Finance and
Professional and Digital who are all facing their own
current skill challenges. In a 2022 report by Marine
Energy Wales, they claim the current employment
breakdown for floating offshore wind is:
• 35% Construction and Fabrication
• 12% Project Service
• 25% Technical
• 11% Business development
• 12% Design
• 6% Operations & Maintenance
Although not directly linked to Carmarthenshire,
this provides a good indication on the % split of
various roles required for energy projects.
With the recent award of Freeport status and plans
for manufacturing and shipping of floating wind
turbines in NPT (FLOW), Swansea Blue Eden projects
etc, Carmarthenshire will be competing for similar
skills with surrounding counties and may have some
resident leakage who live in the county but work on
infrastructure energy projects in neighbouring
counties. Carmarthenshire must be pre prepared for
this emerging skill demand to ensure labour
leakage from core economic industries in the
county is minimised, but at the same time consider
the opportunities these projects create for the
county’s residents.
National Grid estimate that the total new roles that
will need recruiting for is up to 400,000 by 2050,
split by new roles and replacement of current roles
to fill retirement gaps. Up to 25,000 new roles to
recruit for in Wales.
Building the net zero energy workforce | National Grid Group
download (nationalgrid.com)
For Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW) It is forecast
that by 2030 there will be 104,401 jobs in offshore
wind in the UK to deliver the current pipeline,
assuming that all projects are successful. However,
increasing the target to 60GW by 2030 which, if
possible, with the constraints of volumes of raw
materials, network connections, and marine
capability, would likely require a workforce nearing
120,000.
OWIC Offshore Wind Skills Intelligence Report - March 2022
Hydrogen generation, carbon capture &
distribution, solar and on shore wind will also
require more skilled workers.
Energy
Local supply chains will also be required,
Carmarthenshire's strong Manufacturing &
Construction presence and central location between
the two counties making up the Freeport and FLOW
zones, places businesses in prime position to take
advantage of supply chain requirements, but skills
and opportunities need to be considered now. It's
important that local businesses are aware of and
involved with the opportunities around the region
and are working on strategies and products that will
support the supply chain.
Simply put- the challenge is growing along with the
opportunity, whilst the time to achieve it is
reducing.
There are several skills gaps and shortages which
need to be addressed across the industry,
• High level electrical skills, including Senior
Authorised Persons;
• Digital skills e.g., data analysts/scientists etc and
engineers with an understanding of data analysis
and presentation;
• Consenting skills, particularly amongst Statuary
Nature Conservation Bodies (SNCBs) and
regulators but increasingly within the industry,
Over the longer-term, anticipated skills shortages
include:
• Electrical technical, Construction and
engineering skills (substations, HV and cables).
These will be exacerbated by the upgrading of
the power network and the introduction of
battery storage sites
• Project Management and the ability to manage
significant sized projects and multiple contractors
• High level digital specialisms data analytics,
artificial intelligence, robotics, digital
engineering/science, machine learning, SCADA
related skills, software development
Figure 1:
The workforce in offshore wind is growing (see Figure 1);
however, the forecast of employment required in 2030 (shown
in red) is growing at a quicker pace than the current workforce
growth (shown in blue). This is due to increases in the planning
pipeline and Government targets (from 30GW in 2019, 40GW
in 2021, to the current 50GW target in 2022).