SSE : Building a workforce for the future at Viking Wind Farm

As Scottish Apprentice Week gets under way, we're profiling four young people, who are working on the future of low-carbon generation on Viking Wind Farm on Shetland.

The teenagers have been meeting with representatives from SSE Renewables, part of the SSE Group, and Vestas to talk about how their apprenticeship scheme has given them the opportunity to build a career while staying in the communities that they have grown up in.

Anna McDowall, 16, from Voe, Owen Priest, 19, from Gulberwick, Edward Stanley, 17, from Reawick and Aaron Regler, 17, from Sandwick are currently studying for one year at Inverness College UHI as part of their training to become four of the first wind turbine technicians working at Viking Wind Farm in Shetland, when it enters operation in 2025.

When the year comes to an end, the apprentices will commence a three-year training course with Vestas to give them the specific skills to help maintain the wind farm's turbines - installation of which is due to commence towards the end of 2022.

Speaking about why she decided to apply for the apprenticeship scheme, Anna said: "I wanted to do practical work and not just the academic learning I was experiencing at school. I also knew I wanted a job in the renewable energy sector and to be part of the fight to slow climate change.

"So far, the apprenticeship is going really well. I am learning so much just being at Inverness College UHI and I have new skills which I would never have got staying on a school.

"My family has been really supportive and told me to "go for it', and I so I hope that this is the start of a long career in the renewable energy sector. It is really good that I get to do this job in Shetland where I grew up and where my relatives and friends are."

Aaron agreed that being able to start his career in Shetland made the apprenticeship an attractive opportunity: "I really like being in Shetland and I've got all my friends and family there, so it is definitely a good thing to have a job there but to also have the opportunity to work anywhere in the world in the future.

"That said, I am looking forward to staying in Shetland in the near future, and to continuing my training by taking additional courses and learning new skills."

Once complete, Viking Wind Farm will comprise 103 turbines, with a high voltage cable being installed to connect Shetland to mainland Scotland, bringing more clean, green power to the UK electricity grid and contributing significantly to SSE's Net Zero Acceleration Programme.

Speaking after meeting with the apprentices, SSE Renewables' Head of Onshore Projects, Derek Hastings, said: "These young Shetlanders are the future of renewable energy and it is wonderful to meet them and to hear them speak so enthusiastically about their experiences so far.

"I started as a technical apprentice in the late 1980s and although the job I'm doing now didn't exist then, I am still using the skills I learned then in my job today.

"The training that Anna, Owen, Ed and Aaron are getting today will give them the basis for a solid career in renewable energy for years to come."