Gone with the wind: study suggests possible jobs bonanza from power plants

Up to 5,600 people could be employed in the Czech wind energy sector by the year 2050, according to a study by the Seven consultancy. According to the daily e15.cz, which published the results of the study, that prediction could be fulfilled if the state starts supporting wind energy and would offer support to the tune of one billion crowns in subsidies each year.

Photo: Eva Odstrčilová

The study suggests three different scenarios. According to the first one, some 1500 new jobs could be created within the first 10 years following the renewal of subsidies, that is, by the end of 2030. It envisages some 2,500 people working in wind power plants by that date, 800 of whom would be in charge of their operation.

Another, more conservative prediction, offers an outlook by the end of 2050. According to that, some 30 wind power plants could be built in the Czech Republic every year. According to this prediction, there would be over a 1,000 wind turbines across the country with an overall output of 3,100 MW. Their production, construction and maintenance would employ some 3,400 people.

The most optimistic scenario envisages 1,933 wind power plants across the country in 2050 with an overall output of 5,800 MW, which would employ 5,600 people. According to the study, “it is about the same number of employees as in brewery business.”

According to Štěpán Chalupa, the head of the Czech Republic’s Renewable Energy Association, which sought the study, they have analysed seven well-known producers of wind turbines components. “There must be more producers in the country but we still wouldn’t be able to supply the whole market,” he told the daily e15.

According to the authors of the study, wind energy is a promising field. They highlight the example of the Vítkovice engineering conglomerate. While several of its companies have filed for insolvency, their production of wind turbines is making a profit.

In theory, wind turbines could cover 29 percent of the Czech Republic’s territory. But, as Vladimír Lapčík of the Technical University in Ostrava told the daily e15, after accounting for forests, protected natural sites and areas around municipalities, we are only left with about none percent.

With 148 wind turbines, the Czech Republic currently takes 22nd spot among the 28 EU member states.

Last year’s analysis carried out by the country’s Renewable Energy Association outlined a far more optimistic prediction, which suggested that with the overall output of 5,800 megawatt could employ up to 23,000 people.

This time, however, the authors have taken the EU’s average number of workplaces per energy output and applied that to the Czech Republic.