Rampion hits fifth year of generating wind energy
As Rampion Offshore Wind Farm reaches its fifth successful year in operation, it has recruited two more apprentices to train up as technicians to help maintain the turbines off the Sussex coast.
Both in their early twenties, Josh Cheetham from Brighton and Charlie Franklin-Martyn, born in Worthing and brought up in Portslade, won their apprenticeships with Rampion Offshore Wind Farm against stiff competition.
“We are delighted to welcome Charlie and Josh to our team; they both excelled during a very competitive application process, and we are excited to be part of their career development,” said Rampion Offshore Wind Farm General Manager Daniel Allen-Baines.
“This takes our total apprentices to ten, eight already fully-trained technicians working full-time on the Rampion turbines as part of our 65-strong Newhaven based team who work daily to operate the wind farm.”
Rampion Offshore Wind Farm creates approximately 1,400 Gigawatt hours of power every year, which is enough to power almost 350,000 homes – around half the homes in Sussex – with clean, green energy. Rampion started generating energy in November 2017 and all turbines were fully commissioned and generating energy from April 2018.
Continued Daniel Allen-Baines, “Rampion benefits the local community not only by allowing us to play our part in tackling the climate crisis and secure energy supplies, but in providing jobs and support for local people.”
A £3.1 million Rampion Fund managed by Sussex Community Foundation has already supported 114 community projects benefiting almost one million people across Sussex – see www.sussexgiving.org.uk.
Part of the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm’s commitment to the local community is the Rampion Visitor Centre on Brighton Seafront, which has now been open for two years, since September 2020. It is a free, community resource providing detailed information on wind turbine technology, offshore wind development, construction and operation.
So far in 2022, 17,424 people have visited the Visitor Centre, including 87 school groups, with 650 school children visiting in June alone. It is open to the local Sussex community and tourists to the coast. www.rampionoffshore.com
The planning process is ongoing for Rampion 2, an extension project which could generate up to 1200MW, enough to power over one million homes in the UK and reduce carbon emissions by around 1.8 million tonnes per year. The final application will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate next year. Should the project achieve consent, construction could start around 2026, with the wind farm fully operational before the end of the decade, helping meet the Government targets to quadruple offshore wind capacity by 2030.
More information about Rampion Apprenticeships:
The Rampion apprenticeship takes around three and a half years to complete. The first two years are predominantly classroom based and spent completing a BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma qualification in Electrical and Electronic Engineering as well as a range of practical training courses at a bespoke Wind Turbine training facility at Llandrillo College in North Wales. Their third year will include on-site training at Rampion Offshore Wind Farm, working from the Operations & Maintenance Base in Newhaven.
Applications for the 2023 apprenticeship programme will be open again in Feb 2023, to coincide with National Apprenticeship Week. More details can be found on Rampion’s website: https://www.rampionoffshore.com/contact/careers-with-rampion/apprenticeships/
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Media enquiries: Paula Seager, Natural PR at paula@naturalpr.biz or 01273 857242.