GWO – these three letters have transformed the international wind industry in record time and actually created a standard. Uniform safety training is saving companies lots of money and employees can work anywhere in the world.

Behind the three letters GWO is the Global Wind Organisation. It published its standard for health and safety (HS) training nearly two years ago and with its guidelines established the ­basis for uniform minimum standards for employee training. Meanwhile, the GWO standard is in its sixth revision.

The basic training is divided into five modules. In the field of onshore, they include the instruction blocks “working at height,” “fire awareness,” “first aid” and “manual handling.” In the offshore ­segment, additional skills are added, such as sea ­survival and how to exit a helicopter underwater. In addition, many training centres offer additional special ­certifications which, although important, are not part of the GWO standard; some examples are helicopter winch operator training, advanced hub rescue, and ­technician core skills.

Certification pays off

Although the non-profit organization GWO has only 12 members, its standard has spread rapidly. Currently, there are some 60 training centres worldwide offering training in full or partial compliance with the standard and certified in accordance with the criteria of the GWO. Most of these centres are located in ­Europe, but some are in the United States, South ­Korea and even New Zealand. The magic behind this is actually easy to explain, because through its corporate members the GWO represents a huge market force. For instance, companies that want to work for Dong Energy or Siemens, have no chance of setting foot on the job site without GWO-trained employees.

The result is a flourishing business for certified vendors. When formerly country-specific safety ­training certificates expire, for instance, opportunity knocks for the training centres. Everyone affected needs refresher training. The GWO basic course takes 6.5 days to complete all of the modules. In addition, the validity periods for the individual modules are limited. That means that regular refresher courses are on the programme to ensure that staff can ­demonstrate all the required and valid certificates. One of the first training centres ever to be certified by GL in accordance with the GWO standard was the Polish akademia_wiatru. Often, providers have to make an initial investment to meet the requirements. Such an investment may include climbing towers that meet the minimum height of 7 m. However, the ­efforts to get certified are worthwhile because manufacturers require their employees to be certified in ­accordance with the new standard. “We qualify ­employees for Siemens and Vestas, and offer all of the modules prescribed by the GWO standards,” says Dmitrj Smirnov, the Sales Manager at wiatru.

Work without barriers

The new standard helps the industry as a whole because for the first time it offers basic training which is accepted not only by individual manufacturers and other companies in the wind industry, but also by the authorities in the respective countries. In this area, in particular, difficulties have frequently arisen when different or additional occupational safety requirements were imposed. That made working abroad ­difficult.

“The GWO standard is universally accepted as a basis. That has eliminated these barriers. This helps the entire wind industry enormously,” says Jakob Lau Holst of the Danish Wind Industry Organisation. After all, the Danes are heavily invested in this business. “Another advantage is, of course, that the employees get the best training. That means they are tied up for a few days, but then the company does not have to pay for double training anymore,” he adds.

Working at high altitudes makes special demands on safety. Quality training for workers is all the more important.

(Photo: Mines Rescue)

Most of these GWO-certified training centres are located in the United Kingdom. Recently, the Mines Rescue Service, together with the manufacturer ­Senvion, commissioned a new wind turbine facility, including an MD 70 wind turbine in order to train service technicians for onshore facilities. Even ­Scotland’s Energy Minister Fergus Ewing made sure not to miss the opening date. At the inauguration, he hit the nail right on the head. “The continued growth in the sector offers a great opportunity for companies such as Mines Rescue Service to expand and ­diversify, and this is helping to support employment and training throughout Scotland.”

However, most of the training centres are located on English territory. Mines Rescue now maintains six training centres, two of which are equipped with a wind turbine and specifically tailored to the wind industry. “Of course, the new centre in Crossgates helps companies based in Scotland to save on travel and accommodation costs for their employees. We now offer first rate training,” says Errol Parrish,  ­Operations Manager at Mines Rescue, looking at the practical side of the issue.

Chip card access

In any case, the companies in the British Isles seem to be capitalising quite well on the booming ­demand for specialised professionals in the wind energy industry. This is particularly true for the European offshore wind market. “Up to now, although the UK has no manufacturers or a large industry of its own, what it does have is a lot of experience in the construction and operation of offshore wind farms,” says Wim Keen, a managing partner and energy consultant at Antal International. He helps his customers keep an eye out for suitable staff. “Specialists are needed in all phases. This ranges from planning to site surveys, to construction. In these areas, in particular, many specialists come from Belgium, Holland and ­England,” he says. And this is precisely where ­English companies can show their good cards. “There were just a lot of wind farms built offshore all around ­England. So, of course, there is a ­correspondingly high level of experience here.”

Chris Streatfeild, the Director of Health Safety at the industry association RenewableUK also sees this as a trump card. But he does not necessarily want to shout it from the rooftops. “Basically, from the oil and gas business, we have a long maritime tradition and the UK is the largest market for offshore wind ­energy,” he says. The result is that even before the GWO standard came along, the English had already made considerable strides in terms of HSE.

The national skills of the Offshore Petroleum ­Industry Training Organisation (OPITO) are among the world’s best training ­standards for safer work at sea. All of its courses, ­certificates and training programmes completed by employees are stored on a special chip card. ­Technicians simply hold the card in front of a scanner located at a port or helicopter ­terminal and are cleared to work at a maritime ­construction site. Streatfeild is striving for something similar in the wind industry. “We’re working with the key ­companies from the wind industry toward a ­verification system and want to consider what kind of details could be stored on such a card starting in ­October. This is still an on-going process,” he says.

Just as important as safety, however, is the content of the training for service technicians. In that regard, the Training Centre for Renewable Energy (BZEE) has done real pioneering work in Husum, ­Schleswig-Holstein. The largest European and North American wind associations are part of the ­academy’s network. Together with local partners, the BZEE has already established skills training in Canada, the USA and several European countries. Just recently six new training centres have opened in France. “The ­demand for personnel in the wind industry is on the rise in Europe. At the same time it is difficult to find qualified electricians or mechatronics specialists. In countries, such as France, the unemployed are trained and after several months of courses get a second chance. In Germany it is becoming ­increasingly difficult to get enough participants due to the good economic climate and the increasingly ­stringent requirements of the employment offices,” says Beate Buhl of the BZEE.

Torsten Thomas

Siemens Energy has been awarded a contract from Theolia, a French independent power producer, for the delivery, installation and commissioning of seven D3 platform direct-drive wind turbines for an onshore wind power plant in Haute Borne in the Somme region in northern France. When completed, it will have a total power rating of 21 megawatts. Commissioning is scheduled for August 2015. The contract also includes a service and maintenance agreement for a period of 20 years.

A 858 kWp photovoltaic system will be installed on the uppermost storey of a car park at Garden City, a 32 acre development with residential, retail, hotel and office space. As well as providing much needed shade, the 3,300 solar panels will supply retail tenants with 1256 MWh of solar energy per year and cut carbon emissions by around 745 tonnes per year, according to a company statement.

A dual-mode system that can operate in parallel with the grid as well as with diesel generators will be used. This solution “provides solar energy in the daytime meaning less is used from the grid; and when the grid is down, the system also reduces the consumption of costly diesel back up”, says the statement. The result will be a cheaper energy bill.

“The system was developed by SMA, but we pushed the envelope to ensure the solar contribution is exploited to the maximum without damaging the generators. These are operated during the frequent power cuts occurring in the country”, explains Dan Davies, Director for Solarcentury in East Africa and one of the company founders. “The unique dual-mode technology system we have developed is perfect for urban areas where land is at a premium yet energy needs to be supplied near to demand. Installing the panels on the roof of a car park makes use of otherwise functionless roof space. We worked with architects to overcome all concerns related to the aesthetics of the project.”

The solar installation, whose cost was not disclosed, will be financed under NVI Energy’s Solar4Africa. “The developer is taking the responsibility of 30 % of the upfront costs and will gradually gain ownership over 12 years depending on the performance”, Davies adds.

Garden City is a 250 million US$ project and includes 420 apartments and houses, 50,000 square metres of shopping mall, 20,000 square metres of office space and a 3-acre central park.

Led by Actis Ltd, a London-based private equity firm focusing on emerging markets, the development has also CDC (the UK development finance institution) and the International Finance Corporation as investors. The project is endorsed by Kenya’s Vision 2030, the national blueprint aiming to industrialize the country, transforming it in a middle-income economy “in a clean and secure environment” by 2030.

Supportive environment for solar in Kenya

This is the second dual-mode solar technology system Solarcentury installs in Kenya, the first being for Williamson Tea’s tea farm. Launched in May 2014, the 1MWp solar PV project is East Africa’s largest ground mount system and is expected to reduce the company’s energy bill by around a third. For this project, Solarcentury has worked with local developers East African Solar and Azimuth Power.

“The two projects have different structures but the principles of integration and the economic justification are very similar”, says Davies, who relocated to East Africa to harness the business opportunities offered by African countries. He says there is a relatively supportive environment for renewable energy in Kenya: “There is a more supportive environment today in Kenya than 20 years ago in the UK, where the resistance from utilities was very high”.

Besides power outages that still disrupt businesses, however, a specific feature of the Kenyan market is the high cost of energy. In September 2014, the average cost of electricity for commercial activities was 0.18 US$ per kWh and the cost of diesel was 1,13 US$ per liter.

“The need to cut the energy bill, rather than other incentives, is creating market conditions that make solar power a strong economic proposition”, he says.

Claudia Delpero

Martifer Solar, a subsidiary of Martifer SGPS, together with Hanwha Q CELLS Korea, the Korean leading company in PV downstream area, completed a utility scale project for Korean investors, with combined capacity of 17.8 MWp.

With another order announcement in the U.S., Siemens Energy continues its success in the Americas wind market. The Carroll wind power plant will be located in western Iowa near the city of Carroll, and will consist of nine 2.3-MW geared wind turbines. The customer is Carroll Area Wind Farm LLC, a company of NJR Clean Energy Ventures.

Hanwha Q Cells has set up an additional production line for solar cells with a capacity of 204 MW at its factory in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. Due to increasing demand, the photovoltaics manufacturer from Thalheim, Germany, is going to expand its production capacity to more than 1.5 GW by the end of the year.

While policy and regulation are accelerating this transition, the fundamental drivers are a changing marketplace and evolving technology.  Rates are increasing for electricity delivered from large, centralized utility power plants.  Meanwhile, advancements in «distributed» on-site energy resources — solar energy, combined heat and power, biomass, advanced engines, fuel cells, energy storage, efficiency, demand management, microgrids and advanced information technologies — are driving down costs, fundamentally shifting the economics.  Beyond direct cost savings, distributed energy resources create other major benefits:  reduced vulnerability to power interruptions caused by extreme weather events; improved physical security and cybersecurity; deferred utility capital investment requirements; grid optimization; reduction of climate threats and harmful air pollution; and economic growth and job creation.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, more than $2 trillion will be invested in new power generation over the next 20 years.  Add to this at least another $1 to $2 trillion in necessary transmission and distribution upgrades. The question should be:  How do we as a nation want to invest this capital?  On patching an old central power plant model (think mainframe computers) or on a modern distributed electricity system supporting entire new industries (the energy equivalent of smart phones and the cloud)?

Enabling distributed energy will require more than new business models. The U.S. electricity regulatory framework developed over the last 70 years is focused primarily on centralized power. It is insufficient to support a modern distributed grid.  Serious reforms are needed to achieve the promise of 21st century energy technologies. 

EPA’s power plant rules and a series of orders issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) offer important progress towards energy modernization.  A handful of states, including California, New York, and Hawaii, are actively developing the “utility of the future,” and many other states are considering policies that will support deployment of more distributed energy resources.   

But these efforts are caught in the middle of a broader battle being waged by coal interests and other well-funded political groups. One such organization is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which launched a multi-million dollar strategy to repeal existing policy frameworks and oppose new proposals supporting distributed energy in state legislatures across the country.  Incumbent interests have filed lawsuits against grid modernization policies. Earlier this year, in a case brought by industry trade associations, a federal court in Washington, D.C. struck down a key FERC directive that spurred innovation by opening new markets for advanced energy management providers. 

Anthony Alexander, CEO of FirstEnergy, a major electric utility headquartered in Ohio, gave voice to this strategy in a recent speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He positioned distributed energy as a “war on coal,” saying on-site resources such as solar, wind and energy storage “sound good” but “don’t do anything to maintain electric service.”  Ohio’s state government has bowed to these arguments.   In June, Governor John Kasich signed SB 310, a bill freezing for two years and then rolling back Ohio’s renewable energy standards.  The rollback was opposed by major Ohio business interests, including Honda, one of the largest employers in the state, and the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association. 

The opposition efforts to date will pale in comparison to the massive campaign that is coming to derail EPA’s proposal to allow “outside the fence” projects, such as distributed energy resources, to reduce power plant emissions.  Even if the opponents are unable to derail EPA’s rule, the battle will then move to the states, where incumbent interests have long-standing relationships.  As a spokesman for the National Mining Association put it:  “We’re confident that at the state level, when this next level of rules are implemented, we’re going to have the broad-based support we need to make our voice heard and our concerns understood.”

Given this powerful opposition, the drive for policies supporting the major economic and security benefits of distributed energy resources will require strong, clear, organized, and united support. A broad variety of business interests have a direct financial stake in distributed energy, including industrial energy consumers (technology companies, manufacturers, and retailers); grid system integrators; renewable energy developers, manufacturers, and financing companies; commercial property developers and operators; smart grid and IT providers; energy storage companies; and their related trade associations.  The outcome of this debate will have huge impacts on U.S. economic opportunities and international competitiveness in coming decades. 

It is urgent that American businesses stand together in support of distributed energy.  The business community should bring a unified voice to the state and federal policymakers setting the terms of this pending battle for the future of the American electric system today — from state legislatures and regulatory commissions, to Congress, the FERC, and the EPA, and other key federal policymakers.  Business interests also should urge broader federal leadership on distributed energy, potentially including issuance of an Executive Order by President Obama.  In making the case that distributed energy resources will save money, improve reliability, make us safer, and create new jobs and wealth in our economy, businesses will provide vital support for a 21^st century electric system.  

Lead image: Pixelated War via Shutterstock