Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday 22/10/2008 Page: 14
SHAUN BLACKIE manages three wind farms in Victoria. A former electricity linesman, he oversees the maintenance of Pacific Hydro's huge windmills on their wind farms at Yambuk, Codrington and Challicum Hills. Together, the three sites have 69 huge wind-powered generators - 70-metre towers with 30-metre blades - and supply enough electricity to power 53,000 homes annually. "I find it a fantastic company to work for," Blackie says. "I do love the feel-good factor of knowing you're making renewable energy and the impact that has on the environment. I won't say I was a diehard greenie, but obviously it was on my mind.
Now it's on everyone's mind; a lot of people are curious about how it works and what I do out there." Pacific Hydro leases farmland from farmers, paying them rent for the right to install the towers. They can graze their sheep and cattle around our machines without a hassle," Blackie says. if they get enough machines on their property they can drought-proof their farm because it's a constant income." As part of safety requirements, Blackie and the maintenance workers have to practise abseiling the side of the towers in case of an accident while they are up there. Under normal operating procedure, ladders are used.
"We hope we never have to use it, but we refresh our training every year to keep our skills intact." Blackie says there are many jobs in wind farms. "A lot of people think it's really high-tech but there's a lot of trade jobs there as well ... We've got guys who are ex-mechanics, and we had some [aircraft mechanics] when Ansett went bust come down as service technicians. We have electricians and linesmen and anyone with an electrical background."
0 comments:
Post a Comment