The Global Wind Energy Council and Global Wind Organisation have released their joint report, Global Wind Workforce Outlook 2025–2030, forecasting the demand for wind technicians in Construction & Installation (C&I) and Operations & Maintenance (O&M) across the global wind fleet. The report projects a roughly 50% increase in demand over the five-year period and outlines strategies to address workforce gaps arising from this growth.
Scaling up the workforce for C&I and O&M roles can take up to a decade, whether through training new technicians or retaining existing staff. Meeting the needs of the projected 2.1 TW global wind fleet raises urgent questions about talent availability, skill development, and workforce readiness.
The report includes detailed country profiles for Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India and the USA, highlighting actions to improve workforce preparedness. Across these markets, addressing technician shortages, expanding training capacity, and improving retention are critical to meeting local requirements.
By 2030, around 628,000 technicians will be needed to support the growing wind sector, up from an estimated 475,000 in 2025. The report notes that workforce scaling can take up to ten years, so delays in training and deployment could create labour shortages and under-skilled candidates during the forecast period.
Training efforts should align with regional and national frameworks, ensuring candidates have access to the necessary skills and information about available roles. The six country profiles outline tailored approaches to building local capacity and fostering a resilient workforce.
The report also notes that workforce demands in R&D, procurement, manufacturing, logistics and decommissioning are not included, meaning total workforce needs to achieve net-zero goals are even higher.
