Meeting personnel challenges

Eric Thormann explains how turbine technicians represent the industry’s future.

“There is a conscious effort on safety during erection as well as during maintenance of the turbines”
-Eric Thormann

P&E. Why is finding and keeping good technicians such a challenge?
Eric Thormann. The wind energy industry installed nearly 20 GW in new capacity in 2007, representing a nearly $40 billion global industry. New capacity additions will exceed 25 GW this year, with that number expected to nearly double over the next 10 years. Driving this growth is investment by the world's leading utilities and energy companies, including Iberdrola, EdF, E.ON, Vattenfall, BP, and others as they strive to diversify their portfolios, respond to public policy and address climate concerns. This growth has been a boon to ailing industrial sectors in Europe and North America, but especially to the local rural economies where wind projects are located. Among the wider range of economic impacts generated by the wind industry, various studies have shown that every 100 MW installed creates, after construction, five to10 long-term plant jobs and twice as many non-plant jobs.

These 'green collar' jobs include trained turbine technicians, utility and transmission services, and various subcontractors to ensure the ongoing operation and maintenance (O&M) of the utility-scale wind plants that represent the industry's future. Work includes performing inspection, preventative maintenance and repair on internals, blades, hubs and towers of today's turbines. Turbine availability and energy output is fundamentally linked to technicians working safely and productively at elevation.

Wind plant O&M service providers face growing challenges as turbines have grown larger in recent years, now reaching up to 160m tall, which include increased employee attrition and mounting employee healthcare costs associated with repetitive manual climbing fatigue.

What is the cost of technician attrition?
Turbine technicians receive over 200 hours of training and costs up to $20,000 to replace when all hiring, training and contingency costs are tallied. Annual technician attrition ranges from 25 to 33 percent industry-wide, with certain locales approaching 50 percent. Take the case of the US, where projections call for over 15,000 turbine technicians by 2020. Replacement costs alone could reach $70 million at current attrition rates.

How can you maximise technician retention?
The mission of Power Climber Wind is to help manage O&M costs and maximise profitability of wind assets. By providing a range of powered access solutions for work processes both inside and outside wind turbines for more than 10 years, Power Climber Wind helps improve safety and productivity of wind turbine maintenance personnel. The benefits are lower attrition, lower health costs, fewer climbing and fatigue related injuries, as well as reduced exposure to falls or stoppages

What does Power Climber bring in terms of safety?
The key words of wind power industry are safety, reliability and performances. There is a conscious effort on safety during erection as well as during maintenance of the turbines. Access to the sites is highly regulated. Safety training and personal protection equipment is mandatory.

Power Climber is a key contributor to the safety mix. Our access solutions, SHERPA service lifts and IBEX climb assist system, as well as solutions for blade and tower access, enable wind turbine maintenance and repair service teams to perform their tasks with increased productivity and safety. The taller the tower the more critical the need to access the nacelle safely and rapidly, and the more Power Climber access solutions provided answers for that need

Eric Thormann joined SafeWorks in January 2008 as Managing Director of Power Climber International. Thormann was most recently VP After Sales Services for Trane Europe. He also held management roles with Carrier, Volvo and Union Carbide. He studied a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Hartford in Connecticut, US.