GDYNIA MARITIME UNIVERSITY – “Competences for offshore wind energy” Conference
International conference “Competences for offshore wind energy” at the Gdynia Maritime University. The president of the Baltic Maritime and Space Cluster proposed training fishermen so that they would have a chance to find employment in the offshore industry. Fishermen are great candidates for this job because they know the sea well.
In Europe, the competition for professionals for offshore wind farms begins. About 30,000 jobs will be created in the Pomeranian Voivodeship.
Guests of the international conference “Competences for offshore wind energy”, organized on May 17, 2023 by the Center for Offshore Wind Energy of the Gdynia Maritime University, was welcomed by: Andrzej Popadiuk – director of the Offshore Wind Energy Centre; Gdynia Maritime University; prof. dr hab. Eng. Adam Weintrit – rector of the Gdynia Maritime University.
How Western countries deal with the development of staff for offshore wind energy – this was discussed by representatives of, among others, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, France.
German experience in developing competences for the offshore wind sector was presented by Heike Winkler – managing director of WAB. Danish practices in developing competences for the offshore wind energy sector were presented by Flemming Østergaard – Head of Business and Applied Sciences at EASV. Stieneke Boerma – Project Manager, Noorderpoort College, spoke about the training and vocational education in the Netherlands and about the role of the European Union.
The development of wind energy means the development of local growth centers
The involvement of Polish entities and cooperation with foreign countries in offshore was also discussed by prof. Marek Grzybowski – President of the Baltic Maritime and Space Cluster:
Fot. Kazimierz Netka.
– When it comes to education, members of the Baltic Maritime and Space Cluster have full competences to train, also on simulators. A member of our cluster: Center for New Competences has trainers that use virtual reality for education. The Maritime School in Gdynia, a private Maritime School, has full competences to train in about 80 – 85 or even 90 specialties that operate in the offshore area, because professional specialties are needed in the offshore area, while the Maritime University of Gdynia, also a member of the Baltic Maritime Cluster and Cosmic, has full competence to train at the higher level, at the bachelor’s level, but also at the master’s, postgraduate and MBA studies. Therefore, we educate employees in a comprehensive way for wind farms, but what is more, we also educate logistics specialists and engineers who can work in the production of equipment for wind farms.
In my opinion, the level of education does not differ from the level offered by other developed countries. However, we must undoubtedly educate in the area of project managers, because these are large investment projects, specialized, in specific conditions. Here we can look for knowledge transfer between our partners from countries such as Denmark, Norway, Germany or the Netherlands. But what is important and what was shown here in the presentations is that the development of wind energy is the development of local growth centers that will be created around small ports and this applies not only to services, but also to production and logistics – said prof. Marek Grzybowski – President of the Baltic Maritime and Space Cluster to Kazimierz Netka, Editor–of-Chief www.Pulsarowy.pl.