Wind farms allow not only the production of clean energy. Of course, this is their primary purpose, closely related to environmental protection, combating climate change and achieving the goals of the energy transition, and by no means excludes other benefits of wind power investments. One of these is the creation of new jobs. Vestas, for example, provides us with an example here.
The company, which manufactures a wind farm component, will employ 1,700 workers
Vestas – a Danish company that is the world’s largest producer of wind turbines – intends to open two factories in Poland, which are expected to employ up to 1,700 people. They will produce nacelles and blades for wind turbines, i.e. components without which no wind power plant can simply operate. According to the announcement, the first of these factories is expected to begin operations as early as January 2025.
It is worth signaling that Vestas components will be used in the construction of the Baltic Power Offshore Wind Farm, whose investor is the ORLEN Group and Northland Power. Importantly, the components will be made of low-carbon steel, produced almost exclusively from recycled materials and in metallurgical furnaces powered by green energy. Taking into account the full life cycle of the wind turbine, this will reduce the carbon footprint by as much as 10 percent.
From mining to offshore and onshore
In any case, the example of Vestas’ investment in Poland shows that the development of wind energy has a considerable impact on the labor market. It’s hard to deny that the emergence of new plants, needing a considerable number of workers use affects regions where facilities for wind-based energy are being created. Certainly, this is also an opportunity for representatives of those professions that, as they move away from traditional energy sources, will enjoy declining interest. A classic example of this are miners, or more broadly all those working in this sector. Besides, the process of supporting the retraining of mining specialists as wind energy experts has already begun.