FairWinder: Jim from Taiwan
In 2019 FairWind had a big breakthrough with our expansion to Taiwan, where we secured the Formosa 1 Phase 2 pre-assembly project for Siemens Gamesa. Part of fulfilling this important project meant recruiting and training local Taiwanese technicians.
These technicians received all necessary training from FairWind and were even sent to other projects in Europe in order to get the skills necessary to do work on Formosa.
We spoke to one of these technicians, Jim, about his experiences:
Can you tell us about yourself?
I like to do challenging activities. For example, I was in the national sport climbing team in Taiwan and also a scuba dive instructor. For work I previously did rope access, because I like to go to places where it’s hard for people to get to.
Why did you become a wind turbine technician?
In Taiwan wind energy is just starting. I know there are plans to build nearly 1000 offshore wind turbines in my country, so there will be a big market in Taiwan.
Personally, I prefer to work by hand than by computer, and I like to work at heights. I hope to one day be a Blade Repairman, because that job just looks really cool. I also wanted to do something involving helping protect the environment, because I saw way too much destruction on the seabed during my time scuba diving.
What is your job as a wind turbine technician like?
We are doing some big things and everything is huge – it’s not like playing with LEGO’s. We need to be very focused in our job.
I like cable work, for me it’s always nice to do something so detailed. When I finish my job and the result looks good it feels really fantastic.
What projects have you worked on already?
I started with Hohe See in Denmark. I tried to learn as fast as possible, because I wanted to help. It was also my first time working with FairWinders. I tried to understand how they work and how to be one of them. After a few weeks of work, I was happy that my team leader began to trust me with more responsibility, let me work by myself or even take some people to work with me.
Then I returned to Taiwan to work on offshore pre-assembly at Formosa. The summer in Taiwan is really hot, and we often had over 40 degrees Celsius in the tower. After work I always tried to show my foreign colleagues some of my country.
I even got to work on one onshore installation project at FairWind – Bjerkreim in Norway. It’s very different from offshore work, so I had to learn many new things from the beginning.
Norway is the furthest north that I’ve ever been. When one day it snowed on the project, I felt like playing in it like a kid. Even now when I think about seeing snow that day, I still get excited!
Right now I’m getting ready to work at Yunlin in Taiwan.
What is it like to work with FairWinders from other countries?
I like to make new friends, everyone I met was very friendly to me. On the weekend we played football in the park, and actually it’s always been one of my dreams to play football in Europe. What was different for me compared to Taiwan, was the enthusiasm and openness of the guys from Europe – we could speak like friends even after having just met.
I want to tell everyone I met in FairWind that I will never forget you and you are always welcome in my country – I can’t wait to show you this place!
Interested in joining FairWind?