Your Job: A hydraulic engineer will have responsibilities in many of the moving parts on a wind turbine. Things like the pitch of the blades – used to capture more or less wind – are changed hydraulically as can the direction of the nacelle.
These roles are likely to either be onshore in the factory during manufacturing or else offshore during the maintenance phase. As well as working on the actual hydraulics, maintenance regimes would include topping up greasing systems and completely proactive maintenance on systems.
Courses and Training
It is often worthwhile looking at a range of job posts for the type of role you want to aim for. This will give you a very good idea of the practical and academic qualification you’re likely to need. For any hydraulic role an appreciation of hydraulics is critical and it will often be a requirement to have NVQ qualifications in hydraulics and engineering.
If you are looking to work offshore you will also be required to have completed your basic Wind Training, these certificates must be qualified by RenewableUK (RUK) and / or the Global Wind Organisation (GWO). The basic training is made up of:
- Sea Survival
- Fire Awareness
- First Aid
- Working at Height
- Manual Handling
Plus of course there is the specific training in the trade you are doing which we discussed earlier. It would be advisable to reach out to some companies and specific job roles to work out what training and qualifications you might need.
