Sought after skills boost for North and Mid Wales

SP Energy Networks and specialist training provider Busnes@LlandrilloMenai have partnered to deliver sought after skills to would-be energy sector recruits across North and Mid Wales.

The companies are jointly running a new overhead line training course which will see trainees gain experience needed to work on the electricity network and help them apply for roles across a range of businesses in North and Mid Wales who support SP Energy Networks and deliver energy related services.

The course, launched earlier this year, aims to train overhead line personnel over a 22-week period using a mix of classroom based electrical theory and in field practical training with up to 70 people expected to benefit over the course of two years.

Once training is complete, the overhead line craftspeople will be able to apply their training by working in the electricity networks industry.

Liam O’Sullivan, Licence Director of SP Energy Networks, said: “Our communities are at the heart of everything we do and we’re committed to recruiting and training people within these communities.

“Our work with Busnes@LlandrilloMenai and our dedicated contractor service partners has allowed us to open a new overhead line training course. This means we will have a wealth of trained experts on hand to support us across all of North and Mid Wales in the event of power cuts or bad weather, while also supporting with the delivery of our ED2 business plan.”

On meeting with the new trainees, he added: “It’s been fantastic to see how engaged the students are with the course and to join them on a day of training. We have no doubt many of them will be helping us out in the not-too-distant future and we hope to see even more recruits join the next course running this summer.”

The overhead line training course is delivered at Busnes@LlandrilloMenai’s Centre for Infrastructure Skills and Technology (CIST) at Llangefni, a specialist centre providing a programme of accredited training developed hand in glove with commercial partners alongside regional and national stakeholders.

Gwenllian Roberts, Executive Director of Commercial Development at Busnes@LlandrilloMenai, said: “The training resources we’ve developed with SP Energy Networks are already delivering skilled overhead line craftspeople.

“As our partnership develops and grows we hope that it will deliver a skilled local talent pool equipped to meet SP Energy Networks’ regional operational needs and indeed the needs of the regional economy more widely.

“In practice, this means that our partnership is equipping people from across North and Mid Wales with the training, skills and knowledge to respond to the needs of industry.

“This collaboration builds on a long-standing relationship with SP Energy Networks and I’m delighted to have this opportunity to showcase CIST, our specialist training centre, and to discuss how we can further develop this commercial relationship.”

This is not the first time a course like that has been offered by SP Energy Networks. Back in 2013, a similar course was run by the network operator training a total of 35 trainees.

Over a decade later and 25 of those trainees are still applying their trade today, with two having started their own businesses that help and support SP Energy Networks’ service partners.