GE Renewable Energy is to hire 250 employees for its wind turbine blade factory in Cherbourg, France.
The turbine maker said it plans to recruit the new staff for its LM Wind Power facility by the first quarter of 2021.
New hires will go through an “intensive” training programme at the factory’s ‘Center of Excellence’ to learn wind turbine blade manufacturing processes, the company said.
The Cherbourg factory opened two years ago in April 2018, and has a headcount in excess of 300, with women making up 34% of the employee head count.
The expanded production workforce will allow LM Wind Power to meet industry demand, GE said.
The factory has produced the world’s largest offshore wind turbine blade, which is 107 metres in length, for GE’s Haliade-X 12MW offshore wind turbine.
In 2019 two blades were shipped to testing facilities, and three were assembled on the Haliade-X validation turbine in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Cherbourg factory director Henrik Ravn said: “Cherbourg is the world’s first and only factory to produce a blade longer than 100 metres.
“It’s a great milestone for the wind industry, but also an outstanding achievement for the teams. This could not have happened without their passion and commitment.
“We are proud to take part in the region’s social and economic development, to create more jobs in the surrounding community, but also to bring new skills to Normandy’s workforce.”
LM Wind Power’s ‘Center of Excellence’ training programme is a six-week theoretical and practical training course, which will develop the “skills and technical expertise required to produce high-quality wind turbine blades”.
The site will also be recruiting production supervisors, quality controllers, logistics operators and maintenance technicians.
Following the training, employees receive official certificates recognised in the French industry, as a qualification certificates for metallurgy in operations.