The UK government is to spend £6.5 million to ensure the country's renewable energy sector has the engineering skills it needs for future growth.
The announcement by business secretary Vince Cable means that up to 50 students will receive grants to study for a doctorate through the new Industrial Doctorate Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE).
Students on the four-year course will spend 75% of their time working in industry at firms such as E.ON, Caterpillar and Rolls-Royce, learning to understand business needs alongside researching, designing and testing new technology for the offshore wind and marine sectors at leading engineering schools at Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Exeter universities.
“Engineering skills are vital for the growth of a more sustainable economy and are in high demand from employers,” said Cable. “This scheme will see industry working with universities to provide students with the training and commercial experience businesses want.”
RenewableUK, welcomed the fund as helping to bridge the skills gap in the sector, but warned more schemes will be needed.
“This funding will help to attract the top calibre engineers of the future into the fast-growing renewables sector,” said Robert Norris, head of communications at the wind and marine energy trade body. “But we’ll need a whole range of initiatives like this over the next few years to ensure that we have the right recruits to build a low-carbon economy in the UK.”
The funding will be channelled through the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), with IDCORE forming a part of key ETI and EPSRC programmes to develop marine and offshore technology and ensure the UK meets its low-carbon energy commitments.
“If the UK is to meet its ambitious targets for renewable energy deployment in 2020 and 2050 we need to dramatically increase the number of highly trained engineers with expertise and understanding in resource assessment, project planning, device development, grid integration and environmental impact,” confirmed David Ingram, professor of computational dynamics at the University of Edinburgh and IDOCRE director.
“The 50 engineering doctorate students IDCORE will train over the next nine years will, I am sure, help the UK to maintain its position as a world leader in offshore renewables.”
