Expansion of off-shore wind power to create 18,000 new jobs by 2021

(SeeNews) – Feb 2, 2012 – The accelerated construction of off-shore wind power farms will significantly raise the revenues of medium-sized companies and will create some 18,000 jobs in the next ten years, sector association WAB said on Thursday.

By 2021 the off-shore wind sector will provide 33,000 jobs, which is an increase of 18,000, according to a study of consultancy PricewaterhouseCooper and WAB. Medium-sized companies will more than double their staff to 28,000 in 2021 from the currently 13,000.

Revenue for the whole chain, including design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of turbines, will skyrocket to EUR 22.4 billion (USD 29.4bn) from EUR 5.9 billion in 2010.

However, the estimates are based on the assumption that the total capacity of off-shore wind farms will expand to 8.7 GW by 2021. According to the German government‘s plans for the energy transition, off-shore wind farms will have a total capacity of 10 GW in 2021. Currently in Germany the installed wind capacity is a mere 200 MW.

Constructing a wind farm currently includes significant financing risks. Some 16 banks on average participate in financing a single wind farm, which often leads to coordination problems and delays. Private investors do not take part in off-shore wind plants due to the sovereign debt crisis.

German development bank KfW will give some EUR 5 billion for the construction of off-shore wind farms, however, that amount will suffice for the construction of only 10 plants, Ronny Meyer, head of WAB explained.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.315)

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