New e-learning to support the UK's offshore wind industry and speed up the consenting process

RPS has secured a training contract on behalf of senior government and industry forum, the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC). We will develop and deliver a modular e-Learning package on offshore wind consenting for OWIC as part of the Offshore Wind Pathways to Growth (P2G) workstream.

What is Pathways to Growth?

The Pathways to Growth (P2G) workstream is part of The Offshore Wind Sector Deal – a partnership between the industry and the UK Government to provide a long-term strategy for offshore wind P2G aims to navigate key consenting challenges to meet the Sector Deal commitment to achieve 40GW by 2030 and Net Zero by 2050 (2045 in Scotland). It provides leadership, oversight and coordination to improve some of the deployment issues inherent in offshore wind development, related to the UK’s consenting (i.e. licensing and permitting) processes. By delivering e-Learning for OWIC, RPS will support the development of the offshore wind industry by offering a deeper understanding of the technical, regulatory, and environmental challenges.

Related read: Could training help solve global Offshore Wind bottlenecks?

Why is consenting so important in offshore wind?

Consenting is a critical workstream in the early stages of any offshore wind farm project. Its potential for delays affects developers and project managers, but governments are increasingly aware that hold-ups in the permitting stage are barriers to meeting 2030 net-zero carbon targets. One solution is to equip decision-makers with enhanced knowledge of the consenting process, improving efficiency and removing bottlenecks. To this end, RPS’s training business will provide OWIC with comprehensive, readily available e-Learning tools, ensuring that new staff who are unfamiliar with the consenting process and the wider industry can be onboarded rapidly and act with confidence.

Real-world offshore wind industry experience, paired with high-quality training

RPS has spent 20 years at the forefront of the offshore wind industry in the UK, Europe, America, Australia and Asia. We work across the offshore wind asset lifecycle, delivering approvals for ground-breaking ‘firsts’ such as the world’s largest operational offshore wind farms, Hornsea One, Two and Three, and the Berwick Bank and Marr Bank projects, which will be Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms when completed. We are currently supporting the bp and EnBW consortium as Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA) lead for the development of their lease areas in the Irish Sea.

Our training programs draw on our extensive energy sector expertise and our track record in instructional design; we have been providing learning and development solutions for the wider energy industry for over 20 years. We deliver technical training to audiences of various skill levels, including those with non-technical backgrounds. This has included recent large e-Learning packages for a US State government agency and a large national energy company.

Designed to be clear and accessible, our e-Learning modules work with leading Learning Management Systems and feature various interactive media. RPS’ e-Learning can be offered as part of a blended training program (a combination of online and/or in-person instructor-led training and self-paced learning), and with custom content and branding.

Brian McFarlane, P2G Workstream Lead, SSE Renewables, said, “We chose RPS as our training provider due to their combination of deep expertise in offshore wind and the quality of their training delivery. The synergy of strong instructional design alongside their experience as a trusted offshore wind advisor and service provider is what makes them stand out.”

We look forward to creating training content for OWIC as part of this critical project to reduce consenting bottlenecks and speed up the new offshore wind development needed to meet the UK’s net-zero carbon targets.

For more information about this project, please contact Alun Williams, Director – Offshore Renewables – williamsal@rpsgroup.com