Online Master of Wind Energy

Engineers to ensure continued growth in wind industry

Wind energy
New solutions require new talents. This applies particularly in the wind turbine industry, where Denmark has been a leader for several years, but is feeling the pressure from countries such as China, Germany, and the USA.

Major wind turbine manufacturers such as MHI Vestas and Siemens therefore state that there is a need for more engineers with innovative minds.

Tomorrow’s solutions must be produced now, and if we are to maintain growth, we also need new and well-qualified engineers for the industry in five years’ time. Siemens Wind Power has therefore announced that they need 250-300 engineers next year. Here, focus is on the development of direct drive Siemens wind turbines.

MHI Vestas has also announced that they need more engineers. Around 50 additional engineers with many different specializations will be employed in connection with the expansion of MHI Vestas factories on Lindø and Lolland in Denmark.

Targeted supplementary training
Technical University of Denmark, DTU, can feel the demand for engineers, and—fortunately—there is also a strong interest in the engineering profession among prospective students.
In April 2017, the unemployment rate for engineers was only 1.7% compared with 8.6% for natural science graduates.

This year, a total of 2,207 young people have been offered a place on one of DTU’s engineering programmes. More students are, however, required to meet the increasing demand for graduates with competences within wind power.

“We can see that all of the candidates we are producing get a job, and we simply have a hard time keeping up with demand,” explains Professor Jens Nørkær Sørensen, DTU Wind Energy.

"We can see that all of the candidates we are producing get a job."
Professor Jens Nørkær Sørensen, DTU Wind Energy

The engineering programmes have become popular, and in recent years, DTU has received a record number of applicants for its MSc Eng programmes. This means that part of the demand for new engineers is met, but it will most likely not be enough.

Therefore, the University has introduced a new programme, because there is also a great demand for supplementary training that meets the industry’s requirements. Among other things, DTU has therefore created an online Master’s programme in Wind Energy, which is extremely flexible as it takes place on the Internet. This means that students can do the programme irrespective of their location—in Denmark or abroad. However, they must sit their final exam at the University.

The first 33 students have already been admitted to the programme and will be ready to cover an additional part of the demand in a few years.

At an energy conference Copenhagen last week, Rasmus Larsen, Executive Vice President and Provost at DTU, told the Confederation of Danish Industries and a number of Danish MPs that DTU would like to undertake the task of educating more engineers. In the end, it is a question of funding.