Blade Repair standard working group completes first draft

The wind energy industry's first global training standard for blade repair technicians has moved a step closer, with a draft created and pilot testing scheduled to begin on 21st January 2019.

The GWO Blade Repair Standard Working Group has worked to align various manufacturer training programmes and deliver a recognised benchmark of skills for technicians. The standard was requested by GWO members representing a majority of the world's largest turbine manufacturers alongside globally leading site owner/operators.

Jakob Kristensen, SGRE Global Competency Manager, Organizational change, Product Management, Strategic Analysis, Execution has led the work group. He explains:

"There is a genuine demand for this type of training standard, given both the maturity of turbines and the rapid increase in their scale. Our analysis from the working group shows up to an 80% commonality between GWO members' existing blade repair training programmes in terms of basic safety and skills so it will support our goal of standardising generic training and allowing employers to recognise the certifications of technicians trained according to a GWO standard.

The training will be pilot tested during the period beginning 21 January - 1 February 2019, at two sites in the United Kingdom and Germany.

"We are very pleased to have some expert partners ready to test the standard," adds Jakob. "The principal factors put to the test will be timings; Can learning objectives and enabling objectives be achieved within the timings of the draft standard? By testing with three independent facilities in three different countries we will have an excellent reference to refine the standard béfore launching on April 1 2019."

Similar training will have merit potential

Having developed the standard, the working group and GWO membership are keen to remind industry practitioners that all GWO training can be merited against similar training.

This means for example that technicians with an existing blade repair or inspection certificate could have their skills merited against the new standard, provided their original training is properly analysed using GWO's gap tables.

For more information on merit assessment, click here.