NPTC Group of Colleges has taken a significant step towards establishing the UK’s leading Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW) Training Academy with the appointment of Celtic Sea Power to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study.
This milestone follows the College’s successful bid for funding through the initial round of The Crown Estate’s Supply Chain Accelerator, enabling in-depth research into the current landscape of FLOW training. The study will assess existing training provisions, identify potential gaps, and determine the type of facilities needed, their ideal location, and associated costs.
Marking this as a transformative moment, CEO of NPTC Group of Colleges, Mark Dacey, emphasised the Academy’s vital role in supporting local communities and industries:
“This initiative is a major step forward in ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of the renewable energy transition, with the right skills and infrastructure in place to support the growth of the offshore wind industry. The opportunities for our communities and stakeholders are endless and NPTC Group of Colleges is committed to supporting green skills and job growth for Wales in the green industrial revolution as well as the creation of a robust supply chain and a skilled workforce equipped for the challenges of the FLOW sector.”
Steve Jermy, CEO of Celtic Sea Power emphasised the opportunities that lay ahead: “Floating offshore wind represents a generational opportunity to create high-quality skilled employment across the Celtic Sea region. At Celtic Sea Power, we are extremely excited to be leading this important project at such a crucial time for the sector, with 4.5GW of capacity due to be awarded this year. NPTC Group already trains highly skilled and ambitious people for Welsh industry, and by winning funding from The Crown Estate have demonstrated their ambition to take a leading role in delivering FLOW skills to the region. We are thus excited to work with them, and local and regional stakeholders, to deliver a comprehensive feasibility study into a future-facing FLOW Training Academy for Neath Port Talbot in what will be a pivotal opportunity to unlock investment and talent long into the future.
“Rebecca Williams, Director of Devolved Nations at The Crown Estate, said: “The Celtic Sea has the opportunity to play an integral role in supporting the UK’s clean energy transition by hosting three new floating offshore wind farms, capable of generating enough renewable energy to power more than four million homes. Projects such as NPTC’s Training Academy which focus on the workforce needed to deliver and maintain this vital infrastructure will ensure communities in Wales are in a strong position to take advantage of the economic benefits that the deployment of offshore wind off our coasts brings.”
There will be a launch of the project on May 12, where more information on the initiative will be revealed.
