Offshore Wind Workforce Training and Development in Massachusetts
The new U.S. offshore wind industry will need a large, diverse, and skilled workforce. The training and development of an offshore wind workforce is important to ensuring local residents have the skills, credentials, and expertise they need to access new, high-quality job opportunities in the emerging offshore wind industry. Through investments, technical assistance, and facilitation, MassCEC is supporting a range of essential, innovative, and thoughtful programs, initiatives, and projects that are training and educating Massachusetts workers for jobs in offshore wind.
2018 Massachusetts Offshore Wind Workforce Assessment
In 2018, MassCEC released the 2018 Massachusetts Offshore Wind Workforce Assessment, which detailed the workforce needs and economic impact of the emerging offshore wind industry. The report’s findings indicated that, when taking into account direct, indirect (supply chain), and induced impacts, the deployment of 1,600 MW of offshore wind is estimated to support between 6,500 and 9,500 job years over the next ten years and generate a total economic impact in Massachusetts of between $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion. The analysis for this study was conducted based on 2016 legislation authorizing the Commonwealth to procure 1,600 MW of cost-effective offshore wind. That authorization has since increased to 3,200 MW.
Massachusetts Offshore Wind Workforce Grants and the Development of a Community of Practice
To support the development of a skilled and capable workforce and to address identified gaps and needs for the new offshore wind industry, MassCEC, in partnership with Vineyard Wind and SouthCoast Wind, has awarded over $7.8 million in grants to Massachusetts institutions, labor unions, non-profit organizations, and businesses to support new offshore wind workforce training and development programs and projects in the Commonwealth.
MassCEC is piloting a Community of Practice for Massachusetts Offshore Wind Workforce Training and Development, which aims to help the offshore wind workforce grantees and other interested partners and stakeholders network, share information and resources, coordinate, and collectively develop training and educational pathways into and through the offshore wind industry. Through this Community of Practice, MassCEC aims to build a cohesive and comprehensive ecosystem of training providers, educational institutions, community development organizations, and support services organizations throughout the Commonwealth that can work collaboratively to build a world-class offshore wind workforce in Massachusetts.