Wind energy is one of the largest renewable energy sectors in Australia, with several new projects being commissioned each month. For wind farm technicians, a project’s commissioning only marks the beginning of ongoing operation and maintenance, which lasts the lifetime of a project.

“The type of resources needed for the ongoing operation of a wind farm depends on the wind regime, type of turbine and location,” says Danny Nielsen, Australian Vice President of Operations for Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas.

“The technicians mostly come from mechanical and electrical backgrounds. Their qualifications and skills have primarily enabled them to solve the breakdowns and at the same time do the scheduled maintenance.”

Mr Nielsen says that, in the future, Australia could face a shortage of these skilled technicians, due to the demands of other growth industries for similar skilled labour.

“In Asia Pacific we haven’t seen the shortage yet, however there is clear expectation that there will be bottlenecks in this area in the future.”

Training wind farm technicians

Suzlon’s Service Manager for Australia Neil Jenkin says that while no formal technician apprenticeships or tertiary qualifications currently exist, technicians require extensive training and specialised knowledge.

Recognising the potential shortage of skilled technicians, Suzlon has implemented a wind farm electrical apprenticeship program in partnership with RMIT University, with ten apprentices currently being trained to help secure skilled technicians for the future.

Technicians are drawn from the electrical and mechanical trades and often start with no prior knowledge of working on a wind turbine. Mr Jenkin estimates that 60–80 per cent of maintenance work is made up of mechanical work, and the remainder is electrical.

“It’s one of the beauties of drawing on people from different backgrounds. They come with their own experience, be it mechanical or electrical, and I build a team out of that.”

It takes one to two years, depending on existing skill levels, to train a wind turbine technician, says Mr Jenkin. This includes electrical training through TAFE courses, working at heights training, specialised turbine training – Suzlon technicians undertake formal turbine training through the Danish Wind Power Academy – and Level 2 first aid training, given the isolated location of many wind farms.

”You end up with a multi-skilled person at the end of the day – each of them knowing about both mechanical and electrical work, so they can respond to all our emergencies and all servicing requirements.”

Mr Jenkin says that the overall driver for operation and maintenance of turbines is to provide the client with turbine availability, so that it maximises production.

“To do that, you need to put in a regime of maintenance, and an organisation that can respond to breakdowns.”

Suzlon’s team of technicians is 40 strong; with six to ten technicians dedicated to each wind farm. The company’s regime involves 500 hours of service immediately following a project’s commissioning to check bolt tightenings, and other electrical and mechanical components. The turbines then undergo a short servicing six months into operation, and a longer servicing a year after commissioning. Other work on the turbines consists of fault finding and unscheduled maintenance, along with regular six and twelve month services.

“The workforce is rotated between fault-finding (the most interesting part) and servicing (which is more repetitious), to keep the whole team engaged and motivated,” says Mr Jenkin.

The majority of maintenance work takes place in the nacelle and in the hub.

Technicians can access the nacelle in one of three different ways: by climbing an 80 metre ladder inside the tower with no assistance, which requires both specialised training and a high level of fitness; by using a Climb Assist system, a mechanical device that can take up to one third of a technician’s weight; or by using a lift, which is installed inside the tower.

Training communities

While at Suzlon the focus is on training and educating its own team of turbine technicians, at Vergnet the aim is to work with local players to transfer the responsibility of wind farm maintenance to the community.

Vergnet is a designer and manufacturer of smaller-scale wind turbines in rural and remote areas. The company’s 275 kilowatt GEV MP turbines are used for wind farms with capacities of between 1 and 10 megawatts. These machines have a mast height between 55 and 60 metres, and have unique twin-blade aerogenerators, which can be tilted down in less than one hour in the event of a cyclone. This makes them well suited for cyclone-prone areas such as Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

The turbines are lightweight, robust, and use guide wires to support the tower. The design also ensures that the turbines are easy to install, requiring only small cranes, and consequently making them a good option for remote areas that don’t have large-scale or oversize infrastructure.

The Vergnet model works by creating new jobs through the training of technicians, in order to ensure onsite availability. The turbines are designed so that members of the local community (approximately five per wind farm) can carry out the routine maintenance following a two-week training course. Further members of the community (approximately 30 to 50 people) are also trained in cyclone procedure.

Vergnet Sales Director David Sacotte says that the key to its success is to take components that are well established and easy to maintain. Not only does this make the job easier for the company, it means that communities can experience the benefits of an involvement in the maintenance process.

For a list of renewable energy courses, refer to EcoGeneration’s 2010–2011 Australian Clean Energy Directory, which will be included with the July/August edition of the magazine. The directory is also available online.