Zephyros Ocean Academy​

TRAINING ACADEMY – CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

With an anticipated 30,000 offshore wind turbines planned for the North Sea alone, the demand for reliable subsea T&D solutions will be matched only by the HR vacuum it will create as the manufacturers, installers and operators alike fight over the limited pool of High Voltage Authorized Person (HVAP) and associated tradespeople currently available.

Zephyros Ocean Academy has been designed to meet the challenge of expanding vocational training in line with the anticipated surge in demand for qualified offshore renewable sector personnel.

 

 Working closely with UNITECH Energy, Zephyros Ocean Academy is uniquely positioned to expose candidates to their active commercial operations and maintenance routines, servicing their existing floating wind turbine concession, in addition to their subsea cable winding factory and their extensive R&D facilities located within Stord Kommune on the West Coast of Norway.  

Zephyros Ocean Academy will play a critical role at the heart of the North Sea wind power expansion by providing the world’s premier training and certification facility focused exclusively on education serving the floating offshore wind sector.

ACTIVE LEARNING FACILITY

Zephyros Ocean Academy specialises in providing training for candidates pursuing a career in Offshore Renewable Power.

Focusing on short courses leading to competence qualifications and “Authorised Person” certifications across a range of disciplines, Zephyros Ocean Academy will host its inaugural training course “Safe Operation of High Voltage Power Systems on Wind Turbines (Authorised Person)”  from the world-leading Faraday Centre Ltd.

The training will be organised at Zephyros Ocean Academy’s Eløydane campus on the island of Stord on the West Coast of Norway.

In cooperation with our international educational partners, Zephyros Ocean Academy will deliver various multi-discipline world-class training and certification courses. to equip the next generation of Norwegian engineers, technicians and service personnel with the internationally recognized qualifications they need in order to compete in tomorrow’s workforce in offshore renewable power.

Future courses will include training for offshore technicians, high voltage engineers, control room operators and all associated service personnel and will expand to include certifications to the following international standards:

OPITO | HSE | MCA | C&G | IOSH | CIEH | JTL | WO

Unlike conventional training centres, Zephyros Ocean Academy has access to various commercial projects including Zephyros-ONE floating offshore wind turbine, UNITECH’s cable winding facility and the extensive R&D facilities established for their subsea technology development.  These facilities enable immersive learning programs to be offered, making it possible to embed students who have attained the necessary HSM qualifications in active O&M rotations conducted within the Zephyros-ONE concession and the wider UNITECH Zephyros group of companies.

Zephyros Ocean Academy’s strategic partnerships with leading European training facilities will accelerate the expansion of specialised courses aimed at the offshore renewable power industry for high voltage electrical, offshore maintenance and control room operations, bringing more opportunities to Norway’s workforce.

With a passion for action research and action learning principles, Zephyros Ocean Academy’s strategic knowledge-sharing partnerships with Europe’s best institutions will continue to bring first-of-kind and best-in-class skill improvement programmes to Norway for the first time. 

FACILITIES

Serving distinct vocational pathways, Zephyros Ocean Academy will expand with state-of-the-art facilities in support of each discipline, providing our candidates with hands-on practical experience in a safe and controlled environment.

OFFSHORE WINDPARK TRAINING PATHWAY

Though its strategic partners, Zephyros Ocean Academy offers training according to various global standards for the offshore renewables industry wind industry, and Health Safety and Environmental (HSE) for rescue services, industry, construction, and heavy equipment including GWO Blade repair training and GWO Basic Technical Training.

· WTG Assembly Area
· WTG Electronics Troubleshooting
· Rotor Blade Repair
· Heli Hoist Simulator
· Rescue from Heights
· Hub Rescue

· Confined Spaces
· Deep pool facilities for offshore simulation training 
· Access to active wind turbine tower and gantry
· Working at Heights
· Rigging / Rope work
· Firefighting
· Restricted Zone Operations

HIGH VOLTAGE TRAINING ARENA

Courses include practical ‘hands on’ exercises as well as theoretical lectures. Comprehensive competence-based theoretical and practical assessment are conducted, with check-out certifications available on campus to provide ticketed wind park-ready technicians. 

HV Facilities include:

  • 3.3/11kV vacuum contactors
  • 11kV circuit breakers (oil/gas/air/vacuum)
  • Indoor 6kV, 24kV, 33kV and soon to be 66kV circuit breakers 
  • Specialist areas for cable termination & jointing training, protection training and fixed pattern, withdrawable and ring main units LV testers, insulation resistance test sets, high voltage insulation test sets and cable spiking equipment EAL training

MISSION OBJECTIVES

Short Course Training Academy providing specific skillsets required for F.O.W.T. Engineers & Operators
Practical skills development environment for Floating Offshore Wind production systems
MCR training environment for the development of remote monitoring & control skills
Exposure to cloud-based paperless O&M Compliance systems
Practical training in cloud-based integrated HR management solutions
Cloud-based integrated installation, monitoring, repair & training solutions
Development of Floating Offshore Wind Park ISO standards protocols