Employment Opportunities 

Approved Electrician - Closing Date Now Extended!

We have a vacancy for an Approved Electrician working from our base at Hatston.  Work will be varied, but primarily to carry out electrical installations associated with small wind turbines of up to 80 kW.  This kind of installation is newly covered by the 17th edition of BS7671, and very straightforward - In fact, its very similar to standard industrial wiring, utilising trunking and conduit work, so don't worry that its something you might not have done before!

Here is a typical installation for a 6 kW turbine;

Its all fairly straightforward - 3 phase AC in from the turbine, rectified to DC (up to 600V depending on the turbine model), then through inverter(s) to change it back to 230V AC single, split or 3 phase.  The work has always come under the realm of BS7671, its just never had a dedicated mention in the 16th Edition!

At the moment, we are installing about one of these turbines a week, and when not doing the electrical work, there's a chance to learn the rest of it too.  That is, foundation construction, mechanical assembly on site (bolting the turbine to the tower, assembling the generator, hub, blades etc), cable laying from the turbine to the building, etc.  

Aside from the small turbine work, we also do the operation and maintenance work on most of the large turbines on Orkney, for example the big ones up on Burgar Hill.  There's a fair bit of electrical work involved in this, and this is a good opportunity to diversify some of the skills you have already!  When new turbines and wind farms come along, we generally get involved in both the turbine construction work, and the electrical hook up.  This is big stuff like you might never have another chance to get involved with!  On one of our most recent wind turbine connection jobs, as well as installing almost 6,000m of underground cabling (including 150mm aluminium 33 kV power cable, fibre optics and earth cable), we installed over 1,000m of LV "meter tails" to connect the turbines to the transformers.  However, this isn't the 25 or 35mm stuff you might be used to - This is 300mm with 10 parallel cables per phase!  Yes, that's right, 3,000 sq mm of copper per phase!  More challenging than wiring up a domestic consumer unit!

When not working on wind power, we are involved with onshore and offshore support for wave and tidal power, as well as a fairly diverse of industrial work, including installations and maintenance work.

So if you are looking for something a bit more challenging that wiring up houses, or the odd industrial building here and there, this could be it!

We need someone who lives locally, as all the work is based in Kirkwall.  However, as the ever increasing demand for wind turbines is Orkney wide, some travelling to the isles will be necessary, and occasionally to the Scottish Mainland.  As we need someone to start quite shortly, we are only inviting applications at this time from applications who are already living locally.

We offer SJIB rates and conditions with the prospect of development, 30 days paid leave per year, a company pension scheme and the opportunity to get involved in a sector of the industry with huge growth potential.  We also offer on and off the job training for some of the more "diverse" aspects of the job, including working at height training.

Ideally, you will be an Approved Electrician with some experience in industrial systems - Trunking and conduit work, motor control gear, control systems (PLC and relays), that kind of thing.  However, we do welcome enquiries from any Approved Electricians or Technicians, irrespective of the background.  So even if you have just done domestic work, give us a call - We would like to speak to you!

Please send your CV in, either by e-mail, or by regular post.  Contact details are HERE  You can also call us by phone for an informal chat, or to arrange a time to come round to find out some more about the job.

This page was last updated on 09/08/2008