UK Wind Turbine Blade Maintenance Specialists

The UK  is hoping to produce 15% of all its energy from renewable sources by 2020 to try to cut climate-warming emissions.  While the debate about onshore versus offshore wind farms continues, the wind energy industry is fuelling a remarkable growth for a Great Yarmouth (on the East coast of England) company which has taken on more than 20 apprentices in the last year alone.

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Business entrepreneurs David Fletcher and Brandon Hannon launched “GEV Offshore” six years ago and have rapidly grown the business to become a world leader in turbine blade maintenance.

They anticipate that their 120-strong staff will increase to 250 within three years as round three of wind farm development off the British coast brings even greater opportunities. The company is in discussions with Yarmouth College with a view to increasing its number of apprentices in the coming year and has pledged its commitment to encouraging and fostering fresh young talent by supporting the “Norwich For Jobs” campaign to drive down youth unemployment in Norfolk.

GEV Offshore’s technicians, who are also involved in the maintenance and inspection of oil and gas installations as well as working in other sectors, such as the power industry, are trained to a high level as rope access specialists.

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Managing-director David Fletcher (pictured here on the left) said:

“Training for each technician costs around £15,000 and we invested £750,000 on training this year alone.”

In addition to its general wind turbine maintenance services and engineering services, the company has in the past two years become the UK agent to market “Oxifree”, a plastic-like resin used to coat 
equipment to slow down corrosion. Its application has grown rapidly in the oil and gas industry and the company is now conducting trials on wind farms. As more wind turbines are erected in inhospitable locations, such as stormy seas and high altitudes, a coating that would make the turbine blades and towers more resistant to corrosion would be a great boon.

The company’s wind energy sector  is fuelling the company’s growth – from a turnover of £3.6m last year to £8m this year to a prediction of £14m for 2015.

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Fletcher said:

“We worked on over 30 windfarms last year – both onshore and offshore – and 40 this year. Our technicians are in Thailand, Morocco and in all parts of Europe. We are one of the fastest growing companies around here and have become the largest supplier of blade maintenance services to the wind energy industry.”

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The services provided by the firm include the following:

  • Wind turbine installation assistance
  • External & internal tower clean
  • Emergency environmental cleaning e.g. gear oil or hydraulic spill
  • Wind turbine blade cleaning via rope access or platform
  • Gearbox inspection and oil changes
  • Load testing, installation and certification of anchor/eyebolts
  • Installation and certification of fall arrest equipment
  • Technical access assistance
  • Installation and repair of wind monitoring systems
  • Tower painting and surface inspection/recoating
  • Lightning conductor/protection testing, installation and repair