Global Wind Workforce Crisis: Why 628,000 Technicians Are Critical to the Energy Transition

The global wind industry stands at a crossroads. By 2030, the world needs to deploy more than 1 terawatt of new wind capacity to meet the climate commitments made at COP28, where nearly 200 nations agreed to triple renewable energy capacity by the end of this decade. Yet beneath the enthusiasm and record deployment numbers lies a stark reality that threatens to derail this ambitious agenda: the wind sector faces a severe and widening workforce crisis.​

The Global Wind Workforce Outlook 2025-2030 report by Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) paints a sobering picture. To build and maintain the expanding wind fleet anticipated between now and 2030, the industry will need more than 628,000 skilled wind technicians globally. 

This isn't merely a numbers problem. It's a structural challenge that spans recruitment, training, retention, and international coordination across every major region of the world.​

Workforce: A Global Challenge

Beyond localised market problems, workforce challenges have become global coordination challenges. 

In 2024, the wind industry achieved yet another record year, with 117 GW of new installations worldwide. Yet this achievement masks a troubling gap - current deployment remains off-track to meet the tripling target agreed at COP28. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reports that closing this gap requires a global growth rate of 16.6 percent. This target simply cannot be met without the availability of skilled people.​

Technician Demand 2022-2030

The report identifies 493,000 technicians required in 2026, growing to 628,000 by 2030, but this growth isn't distributed evenly across the value chain. 

The maintenance needs are also increasing steadily. Every turbine added to the world's 2.1 TW wind capacity contributes to long-term maintenance obligations. The longevity of existing assets and the sophistication of next-generation turbines compound this pressure, creating demand for technicians with increasingly advanced and diverse skill sets.​

Regional Dynamics

The United States navigates complex dynamics between union and non-union labour while struggling to build an experienced offshore workforce. Europe competes fiercely with the oil and gas sector for technical talent. Asia-Pacific markets face visa and mobility bottlenecks that prevent rapid deployment of specialized workers. 

Meanwhile, emerging markets in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia possess enormous talent potential but lack the structured entry pathways and training infrastructure needed to unlock that capacity.​

Increasing Labour Needs Across C&I and O&M

One of the crucial findings is that operations and maintenance (O&M) now represents an increasingly substantial component of total workforce demand, even though construction and installation (C&I) continues to drive peak labour requirements during intensive build-out phases.​

Offshore Wind: The Specialized Frontier

While offshore wind may account for only about 10 percent of total installed global wind capacity by 2030, it is expected to represent approximately 25 percent of workforce demand. 

This disproportionate labour intensity reflects the technical complexity and specialized safety competencies required for offshore operations. Offshore projects demand advanced technical skills, enhanced maritime safety training, and workers capable of operating in extreme conditions with minimal support infrastructure.​

The emergence of offshore wind creates a significant constraint in regions pursuing such projects. 

The United States faces particular challenges, where policy instability has already jeopardized thousands of construction and operations roles at domestic ports and vessel facilities. Meanwhile, nations like Australia are preparing for offshore development with considerable urgency, and Brazil is leveraging decades of offshore oil and gas expertise to accelerate offshore wind readiness.​

Fragmentation Problem: Who's Responsible for Workforce Development?

A critical insight from the report reveals an organisational fragmentation that has become a structural barrier to workforce development. The wind industry has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past two decades, moving away from fully integrated companies handling entire value chains toward specialised firms focusing on discrete segments. 

This efficiency gain comes at a cost. No single entity now holds full responsibility for workforce development and long-term capability building across the entire value chain.​

In construction and installation, responsibility typically flows across developers, engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) contractors, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and independent service providers. In operations and maintenance, the landscape is similarly fragmented. 

This creates a collective action problem - every player assumes that someone else is addressing the workforce shortage, leading to systemic underinvestment in training and talent development.​

Regional Variations

The workforce crisis persists differently across regions, reflecting distinct market conditions, policy environments, and industrial structures.

In the United States, annual workforce demand for onshore wind is expected to remain within 63,000-75,000 technicians over the next decade, while offshore demand will average around 4,000 technicians per year as projects advance, provided policy stability returns.​

Adding to its existing 53 GW capacity, India expects to add more than 40 GW of wind capacity over the next five years. However, there remains an acute challenge of workforce demand. The demand is forecast to grow to 20,988 workers in 2026, and rise over 32,400 by the end of the decade. While the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) has expanded GWO-certified training from just one provider in 2018 to 27 nationwide by 2024, the progress must be dramatically accelerated to meet emerging demand.

India C&I and O&M Workforce Demand

Brazil: With 33.7 GW of installed onshore capacity, Brazil leads the Latin American region. However, workforce trends have been volatile. The sector now faces a transition challenge: onshore wind installations are slowing, but the imminent development of offshore wind creates new opportunities. Workforce readiness for offshore operations will be critical, the report notes.​

European markets confront different pressures. Germany is the largest wind market in Europe with 70 GW of cumulative capacity. However, the rapid acceleration is creating labour constraints with growing O&M loads and an ageing workforce. France faces political instability affecting its wind legislation - the technology-specific auction scheme will end in 2025, and the technology-neutral scheme will end in 2026, creating uncertainty that hampers workforce planning.​

Australia: The fastest-growing wind market in the Pacific region confronts acute skills shortages despite strong policy support. The Powering Skills Organisation projects a shortfall of about 42,000 clean-energy workers by 2030, with particular gaps in electrical and mechanical skills critical for wind projects.

The Entry Pathway Crisis: Training Capacity Cannot Keep Pace

While the number of GWO-certified training centres has expanded significantly - from isolated programmes in 2018 to 15 in Australia, 27 in India, and 34 in France by 2024 - this growth, though encouraging, remains insufficient to meet accelerating demand. Moreover, training infrastructure is unevenly distributed. Established markets have relatively robust programmes, while emerging markets with significant growth potential still lack structured, high-volume entry pathways.​

Workforce development isn't merely an industrial logistics challenge - it's central to ensuring a resilient energy transition. Wind energy offers high-quality jobs and long-term career pathways in both rural and urban regions. Yet fewer than 12 percent of countries' Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) explicitly mention education and skills related to energy transition, indicating that human capital needs remain insufficiently integrated into national energy strategies.​