LM Wind Power (www.lmwindpower.com) has so far recruited more than 50 people for its ‘centre of excellence’ in Cherbourg (France), as part of its plans to ramp up operations at the site to manufacture 107m turbine blades.

The company is aiming for 100 people by the end of the year, and further recruitment in 2019 and 2020 should see the facility reach full production capacity with 550 employees.

New recruits undertake a four-week training course in Cherbourg before embarking on a three-month placement at another LM Wind factory — either in Spain, Denmark, Poland or Canada, depending on the job they will be under-
taking.

Their training includes a week of theoretical training, followed by a week practising on a real piece of a blade mould.

Site training co-ordinator Sylvain Viau said: “The new employees have already discovered what the manufacturing process is about and realised that they will have to work as a team to make these blades ‘come to life’.”

The start of the production and prototyping phase is scheduled for January 2019. The 107m blade — the longest in the world — is destined for GE’s new Haliade-X 12MW turbine.