Five secondees from X-Academy, the industry-led skills organisation, have been selected to assist BP and EnBW on the Morven offshore wind farm.
The joint venture between BP and EnBW was awarded in the 2022 ScotWind leasing round and is an approximately 535 mile2 lease, located around 37 miles off the coast of Aberdeen.
Morven is creating several new roles that the X-Academy cohort of ‘xccelerators’ will step into, this has been described by the skills firm as the next major step since the partnership committed more than £1 million to X-Academy.
Peter Tipler, managing director of X-Academy said: “As five of the xcellerators move to BP’s headquarters in Aberdeen, we’re keen to see how the ScotWind consortium will realise their plans for developing skills and opening up new doors for the energy transition.
“Morven really is a benchmark project for X-Academy and shows how it can support vital new energy projects as they come to fruition.”
The secondees, Isabelle Pouncey, Duncan Swanney, Sharon Reji, Louise Davies and Robert Hughes, will be split across four teams.
They will join the environment/consents, procurement, training and skills and project management divisions, and will be offered on-the-job learning for a six-month rotation with Morven.
Following the initial group, the Morven team will then welcome new xccelerators to the project.
Richard Haydock, project director, offshore wind BP said: “BP and EnBW are thrilled to welcome five xccelerators to our Morven project.
“Our project goes beyond generating wind energy and we are investing in upskilling people for Scotland’s energy transition.
“We look forward to developing their knowledge of offshore wind and equipping them with the skills to help deliver our Morven project which could generate enough energy to power the equivalent of three million homes every year.”
© Supplied by X-AcademyThe fixed-bottom offshore wind project has a potential generating capacity of around 2.9 gigawatts, this is enough to power the equivalent of more than three million homes when the site comes online.
The transition skills initiative is currently looking to scale up its operations following a successful pilot year and it plans growth across the globe.
This ambition comes as Robert Gordon University’s latest UK Offshore Energy Workforce Transferability Review found that to meet energy transition targets around 40,000 people are required to plug the skills gap that exists by 2030.
The xccelerators have already worked with the Net Zero Technology Centre during this time they contributed to “several projects across their energy integration programme, and delivered a key white paper to the Scottish government,” according to X-Academy.
Mr Tipler added: “Having just celebrated our first year, X-Academy has been met with an incredible reaction from the industry. Our group of 26 willing and able xccelerators have been involved in more than 25 projects and five external secondments – all of which have been aligned with our core belief of prioritising meaningful impact.
“Having been in close communication with the team at BP and EnBW, we know how much they’ve been looking forward to welcoming xccelerators to the project.
“Our skills programme has achieved great success in the initial 12 months, and organisations are excited to become a part of it, and the journey our cohorts are on.”
