Ocean Winds, the EDP Renewables and Engie JV, is boosting its efforts to support armed forces service leavers and their families transition to the offshore wind sector.
As an important commitment to this aim, Ocean Winds has signed the Armed Forces Covenant to mark a new phase of activity to support the transition of relevant skills and attitude into the offshore wind sector.
In order to make tangible change and deliver against the statements in the Covenant an internal armed forces champion has been agreed, himself a former Royal Marine, to progress the programme.
The objectives of the programme are to ensure that veterans are aware of and enthused about the opportunities in the offshore wind sector, and that veterans, reservists and their families working for Ocean Winds are well supported.
Ocean Winds is connecting with relevant stakeholder groups to ensure effective links are made to create awareness of the growing number of opportunities across the sector, as well as those on the growing list of its projects in the UK.
One of the early actions is hosting a stand at the Scottish Service leavers Employment Fair in Edinburgh today.
Within Ocean Winds a review is underway of recruitment policies to break down potential barriers to identifying and hiring excellent candidates from the services.
Recognition of the value of the armed forces will be identified in how Ocean Winds will assess veterans, reservists, military spouses and partners that work for the company.
Currently developing, building or operating three offshore wind projects in Moray Firth (Moray East -950 MW-, Moray West -860 MW- and Caledonia – 1 GW-), Ocean Winds requires a broad range of office and hands-on skills.
This will be across its centre of excellence in the Edinburgh office as well as an operational base in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire and advanced plans for a new operational base in Buckie, Moray.
With two major military bases in Moray the programme will develop links to create pathways for veterans from those bases through increased awareness, training courses and a fair recruitment process.
Ocean Winds country manager for the UK Dan Finch said: “I am delighted that we are enhancing our Armed Forces support by signing the Armed Forces Covenant and having a plan to deliver against those pledges.
“Investing time to support the skills transition for veterans and their families through this programme is good news for the armed forces and for skilled Scottish jobs in the offshore wind sector.
“I am confident that by being able to demonstrate the positive impact that our offshore wind farms are having in Scotland’s capital city and coastal communities will encourage more veterans to see a great career in the sector, helping to deliver the vital public good that will be Net Zero.
“The newly revealed scale of the project pipeline in the UK will require additional efforts to attract talent to develop and maintain those new projects.
“As we know already from the veterans we employ, Armed Forces leavers offer relevant experience and the right attitude.
“This new programme will boost our connections with the services community and support a successful transition.”