The potential in ocean energy – offshore wind, wave and tidal energy – is vast. A good question is: Do we have enough skilled personnel in the ocean energy sector to reach the targets and to realize the potential?
This paper gives a review of some of the major international programs initiated to develop needed knowledge and educate skilled personnel to the ocean energy sector. The conclusions drawn indicate that if the development of ocean energy shall be as described by the ocean energy community itself we will need to add more knowledge and skilled personnel to the industry, and it should be done in cooperation with universities.
The authors present Statkraft’s Ocean Energy University Program. A new initiative from the Norwegian power producer Statkraft to create an international knowledge based network on ocean energy together with three of the leading universities in Scandinavia; Norwegian University of Science and technology, Uppsala University and Technical University of Denmark. The vision is to “build a world leading competence network within ocean energy”. The rationale is that large players in the industry should go in front to ensure that needed knowledge is developed and to ensure that a sufficient number of motivated people are educated.
