GE Renewable Energy to hire hundreds at French blade plant

GE Renewable Energy plans to recruit 250 employees at its LM Wind Power wind turbine blade manufacturing site in Cherbourg, France, by the first quarter of 2021.

The Cherbourg team is mostly looking to expand its production workforce, with positions that are open to all profiles and backgrounds, GE Renewable Energy said.

Every new employee will go through a six-week theoretical and practical training course through LM Wind Power’s ‘Center of Excellence’ training programme.

The site will also be looking for production supervisors, quality controllers, logistic operators, and maintenance technicians.

Following the training, the employees will receive official certificates recognized in the French industry, as a Qualification Certificates for Metallurgy in Operations.

The expanded production workforce will allow the company to address industry demand, GE Renewable Energy said.

Opened in April 2018, the factory is the first wind turbine blade manufacturing site in France, and it currently employs more than 300 people, 34 per cent being women.

The facility has produced the world’s largest offshore wind turbine blades ever manufactured, 107-meters long, dedicated to GE’s Haliade-X 12MW offshore wind turbine.

In 2019, two blades were shipped to testing facilities in the UK and the US, and three were assembled on the Haliade-X validation unit in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Cherbourg site has now started commercial production.

Henrik Ravn, the site Director, said: “Cherbourg is the world’s first and only factory to produce a blade longer than 100-meters. It’s a great milestone for the wind industry, but also an outstanding achievement for the teams. This could not have happened without their passion and commitment. We are proud to take part in the region’s social and economic development, to create more jobs in the surrounding community, but also to bring new skills to Normandy’s workforce.”