SCOTTISHPOWER has unveiled plans to recruit about 350 trainees, about half of them in Scotland, to help it undertake the huge volumes of engineering work involved in planned investment in its power networks.
The Glasgow-based electricity and gas company said this total number of trainees, the hiring of which will be spread over 2015, 2016, and 2017, would be split between adult craft trainees, apprentices and graduates.
The announcement comes at a time when ScottishPower and fellow utility SSE have been warning of skills shortages and highlighting a need to train up more engineers. SSE said earlier this month that it was increasing apprentice numbers.
A spokesman for ScottishPower, which is owned by Spanish utility Iberdrola, noted that adult craft trainees were older, generally aged between 21 and 40, and were normally semi-skilled in a trade.
He added that these adult craft trainees would be trained further in specific areas, mostly engineering.
Iberdrola, at its annual meeting in Bilbao, highlighted €8.3 billion (£6.15bn) of scheduled investment into UK power networks - both distribution and long-distance transmission - over the period from 2015 to 2023.
The ScottishPower spokesman noted that Iberdrola was investing more in the UK than in any other country - 41 per cent or £3.2bn of the group total between 2014 and 2016, including a record £1.3bn in 2014 and a further £1.3bn in 2015.
The investment in distribution includes the renewal and maintenance of the cables and substations that keep the lights on for more than 3.5 million customers in Central Scotland, Merseyside and North and Mid Wales.
Iberdrola's investment in its transmission network includes connecting offshore and onshore wind generation in Scotland to the power network and an increase in the export capacity from Scotland to England from 3.3 gigawatts to at least 7GW.
It also includes the £1bn, 2GW subsea transmission link between Hunterston, in Ayrshire, and Connah's Quay on the Wirral, which is being built jointly with National Grid and is expected to be completed in 2017. This subsea link will allow output from Scotland's renewable generation to flow south and, when required, baseload electricity generation from England and Wales to flow north.
Iberdrola chairman Ignacio Galan told shareholders at the annual meeting: "At Iberdrola, we fully support the future of new generations, their education and professional development."
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