Local people with the necessary knowledge, skills and training will be fundamental to delivering the Hornsea Zone and to the success of The Crown Estate’s wider offshore wind programmes.
UK’s first dedicated Training Tower
In March 2010, the UK’s first Offshore Wind Training Tower opened to Students in North East England. The Training Tower is the result of a collaborative training partnership, backed by Mainstream Renewable Power, Regional Development Agency, One North East, between Northumberland College, and Narec. It is an open access facility, designed to allow education and training providers to deliver academic and industrial training programmes for technicians working in the wind industry and at height, both onshore and offshore.
The skills gap is a key issue for the UK as it ramps up wind generating capacity offshore over the next ten years and this collaboration will lead to an increase in the number of technicians suitably qualified to install, operate and maintain new and existing farms. The Training Tower will help to develop the necessary skills competencies required for working within the industry.
(L - R): Steve Clarke (UK Content Manager, Mainstream Renewable Power), Andrew Mill (Chief Executive, Narec), David Kidney MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change), Helen Goodman MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions), Alan Rutherford (Chairman, Narec), Paul Cook (Assistant Principal, Northumberland College), Mark Pearson (Innovation and Business Development Manager – Energy and Environment, One North East)
Renewable Energy Wind Technician Training Award
The Northumberland College Training Course continues to go from strength to strength, and from each cohort, or group of students, Mainstream sponsors an award for the individual who’s stood out from the rest in terms of, for example, commitment & effort, or perhaps for supporting their colleagues in parallel with high achievement of their own. Presenting the shield here to this year’s winner, Stuart Graham, is Fab Flournov, Player-Coach at Newcastle Eagles Basketball Team an inspirational person. Born in the New York Bronx, surrounded by drugs, gang warfare and street crime, Fab channelled his own energy into creating a better life for himself and his family and is now supporting others to do the same. Meeting inspirational guys like Fab is one of the many reasons why I enjoy this industry. Stuart Graham was recruited immediately into DONG Energy, a key player in offshore wind, and his predecessor, the previous Trophy Winner, Will Scory, was recruited immediately into Siemens wind energy.
(L-R): Steve Clarke (SMart Wind), Stuart Graham (Apprentice of the Year) and Fab Flournov (Player-coach at Newcastle Eagles)
UK’s first Wind Turbine Technician Modern Apprenticeship
During 2010, through a Renewable UK Skills & Education Strategy, Siemens collaborated with REpower UK Ltd. and the Weir Group to pioneer the UK’s first Wind Turbine Technician Modern Apprenticeship. The three-year engineering qualification is split evenly between college-based learning and on-the-job training with the employers. Fifteen candidates have become the first young people to start the full-time scheme at Fife’s Carnegie College. The qualification holds the quality hallmark of City & Guilds and meets the standards of the National Skills Academy for Power.
Going forward, our partners will continue to work hard to address the near-term and long-term barriers to deliver the required quantity and quality of people on a timely basis.