adapting established skills
Key to the success of a wind farm project is having the right number of skills available at the outset.
Advertising may attract the core skills , but others have to be recruited elsewhere in the UK or overseas.
sector under the Renewables Obligation. If
company had established a comprehensive
that confirms the evidence which DECC be-
training and conversion centre for technical
lieves already exists, the Government proposes
staff in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the Sie-
to extend the 1.5 ROC incentive to 2 ROCs.
mens Energy Division has a manufacturing
According to DECC, this additional support
plant with training facilities.
is worth some £3.5 bn over the lifetime of the
Additional training is required to handle the
projects. Does Mr Ehlers believe that this will
more sophisticated electronics of the current
provide the kind of support needed to bring
generation of 3.6 MW turbines, and this is cur-
offshore wind back on target?
rently provided in Denmark, where Siemens
“The offer clearly needs clarification and is
developed its global centre for wind turbine
conditional upon projects being up and run-
manufacturing.
ning, or at least fully financed, within a year. I
That country was probably the first in Eu-
suspect that this is going to prove a difficult
rope to recognise the issues posed by fossil
challenge for many producers.”
fuels after the first oil crisis in the early ‘70s.
“As the demand for these engineers increases,
Potential shortage of staff?
we will have the resources ready in place to
prepare them for a complete range of installa-
A challenge that had been identified last sum-
tion, commissioning and maintenance roles.”
mer by industry observers rather than the re-
That view was shared by Dan Simpson, the
newables industry itself was the potential
Divisional HR Business Partner for Renewa-
shortage of suitable trained and qualified staff.
bles & Fossil Power Generation at Siemens
Our interview at the time with Phil Willis
Energy. He is responsible for recruiting staff
MP, the Chairman of the DIUS Select Commit-
at all levels to the wind power team and has
tee, noted his concerns that the private sector
tracked the steady growth of the company’s
might not be able to bring staff on line at a rate
operations in the UK.
which could meet the first of the Government’s
targets.
The Siemens team had been vociferous in
Many traditional skills still needed
disputing that view, pointing to their own work
Mr Simpson was keen to dispel much of the
in training staff at all the required levels. The
myth which has grown up around training for
the ‘green’ economy, and with it, what he sees
as the inappropriate term ‘greencollar work-
ers’ .
“There is a perception that working in re-
newables is somehow different and that the
sector is going to provide a solution for the
nation’s employment problems. The facts of
the matter do not support that interpretation,
either in the total number of jobs involved, or
the nature of the types of work.
“Stripping away any ethical implications of
climate change, we are talking about skills
which are to be found right across the country’s
“There is a perception that working in renewables is somehow
industrial landscape.
“We require many of the same skills,
different and that the sector is going to provide a solution for
whether in specialised construction, electron-
the nation’s employment problems. The facts of the matter
ics or maintenance. But if association with
the ‘green environment’ is seen as a good thing
do not support that interpretation, either in the total number
within the labour market, that can only be to
the advantage of Siemens and the rest of the
of jobs involved, or the nature of the types of work.”
wind power industry.”
16
The Informed Executive
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