GE subsidiary LM Wind Power plans to hire a further 200 employees at its blade manufacturing plant in Cherbourg, France, by the end of the year.
The new hires will bring the total number of staff at the factory to 320, GE said.
The positions are open to all profiles and backgrounds, as every new employee will go through LM Wind Power’s ‘center of excellence’ training programme.
Each new employee will receive a six-week theoretical and practical training.
Newcomers will also be mentored by experts from the company’s sites worldwide.
The site will also be looking for production supervisors, quality controllers, logistic and maintenance technicians, as well as apprentices’ positions.
GE said that 60 employees were recently recruited and have just began training at the factory’s ‘center of excellence’.
In January, the facility started production of five 107-metre blades for the Haliade-X 12MW offshore wind turbine.
The expanded production workforce will allow LM Wind Power to prepare the blades commercial production phase, GE said.
Cherbourg site director Erwan Le Floch said: “A significant part of the employees at our site today are from the region of Normandy.
“We are proud to take part in the region’s social and economic development, and we are happy to create more jobs in the surrounding community this year.”
LM 107.0 P project manager Lukasz Cejrowski said: “This project creates enthusiasm as the factory is ramping-up, and we have witnessed a significant combination of efforts as we use the expertise from our facilities worldwide to train the people in Cherbourg.
“The teams are excited to have produced the first blade in the world longer than 100 metres.
“We are welcoming new people with diverse backgrounds, and at the same time, we are building a new blade of a size we have never achieved before.”