RECOA.EU - Renewable Construction Academy

28 October 2025 – The Renewable Construction Academy (RECOA) is proud to announce a new Academy Partnership with global engineering and professional services firm WSP to launch a pioneering course: Consenting for Offshore Wind. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in RECOA’s mission to set an industry-wide standard for renewable energy roles and equip professionals with the skills needed to drive the sector forward.

As offshore wind continues to expand globally, the consenting process has emerged as one of the most critical—and complex—elements in the lifecycle of a wind farm project. WSP’s new course, developed exclusively for RECOA, addresses this challenge head-on by offering students a thorough exploration of consenting and environmental permitting, from regulatory frameworks to stakeholder engagement.

Course Overview

This course is designed for professionals who are leading or contributing to the consenting of offshore wind farms, as well as those seeking to understand the key challenges, interfaces, and skills required to manage a successful consent application.

Whether you're a seasoned consents professional or a team member looking to better understand how consenting and permitting impact your role, this course offers the tools to collaborate effectively and contribute to project success.

In this course, the experienced WSP instructors will teach about the importance of consents throughout every stage of a project’s lifecycle, the necessary steps to successfully submit a consent application, and how consents affect real projects by examining actual industry case studies.                                                                        

What Skills Students Will Acquire

• Deep knowledge of offshore wind consenting frameworks
• Skills to interface across multi-disciplinary teams and external stakeholders
• Strategic understanding of key issues and mitigation approaches
• Leadership and coordination capabilities to drive major consent applications

Why This Course Matters

The offshore wind industry is still in its formative years, and the demand for skilled professionals who understand the consenting landscape is growing rapidly. This course fills a critical gap by preparing students to navigate the regulatory, environmental, and stakeholder complexities that define offshore wind development.

RECOA’s vision is to standardise and professionalise roles across the renewable energy sector, ensuring that every job—from technician to project lead—is backed by rigorous, role-specific training. The Consents Management course is a vital stepping stone toward that goal, empowering a new generation of professionals to lead with confidence, competence, and clarity.

Morten Søjborg, Partner, RECOA, emphasises the importance of this partnership and course, 

“Despite current challenges, the outbuild of offshore wind continues with multiples of GW year on year being added to the pipeline of projects under early development globally. Consent and permits play a central role in early development setting a framework with cascading effects throughout the evolution of projects impacting timeline, cost and successful completion keeping environmental impacts at a minimum. We are thrilled that the experts at WSP have made the commitment to share their knowledge with the industry by co-developing what will be the cornerstone in education for consenting and environmental management.”

Chris Cowland, Head of Offshore Wind at WSP, underscored WSP’s commitment to the industry and reflected on the value of shared expertise, stating,

“We’re proud to partner with RECOA to launch a course that tackles one of the most complex parts of offshore wind development: consenting. At WSP, we’ve spent years navigating regulatory frameworks, stakeholder engagement and environmental permitting. Now we’re sharing that experience to help build a stronger, smarter workforce. Knowledge sharing is essential to the future of offshore wind, and this partnership reflects our commitment to raising the bar across the industry.”

About the Renewable Construction Academy (RECOA)

The Renewable Construction Academy develops role-based online training courses and education programmes to educate and upskill the renewable energy industry’s workforce. By addressing the resource challenge and fuelling the green transition, RECOA plays a vital role in promoting the adoption of renewable energy solutions. The Academy offers high-quality, engaging e-learning solutions developed in collaboration with Academy Partners and industry-leading subject matter experts, to establish and elevate the standard of education and training for renewable energy professionals.

About WSP

WSP is one of the world’s leading professional services firms, uniting engineering, advisory, and science-based expertise to shape communities to advance humanity. With over 10,000 experts in the UK and 73,000 globally, we pioneer solutions and deliver innovative projects across sectors: Transportation & Infrastructure, Property & Buildings, Earth & Environment, Water, Power & Energy, and Resources & Industry. WSP is publicly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:WSP).

Media Contact
Michelle Adamick
Marketing & Communications Director
The Renewable Construction Academy
+45 2151 4123
[email protected]