National Grid promotes the vital role of apprenticeships

The North Sea Link (NSL) is the world’s longest subsea interconnector, enabling both the UK and Norway to maximise the use of their zero carbon natural resources.

On days when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining in the UK, up to 1,400MW of power can be imported, enough to power 1.4 million UK homes, and vice versa.

As part of delivering North Sea Link, National Grid created jobs in the area, including taking on local apprentices to give people starting out in their careers the opportunity to experience working on projects that will help the UK reach net zero.

The team has also invested in a purpose-built Energy Education Centre, offering free visits and talks to schools in the area.

National Grid apprentice, Adam Woodroffe, said: “My role as an HDVC assistant technician means supporting the operation of the North Sea Link interconnector.

"Interconnectors are essentially big high voltage cables that run undersea between the UK and different parts of Europe and allow us to share excess renewable energy such as wind and hydropower.

“Day to day, I help carry out planned and unplanned maintenance on the North Sea Link site in Blyth and make sure everything is running as it should be.

"This can include inspections, monitoring equipment and reacting to unexpected events impacting the equipment.

“I love that what I’m doing is helping the UK tackle the biggest issue of our time and that we’re working in collaboration with other countries to do this.

“My advice to others who have found an apprenticeship they’re interested in would be to absolutely go for it.

"An apprenticeship provides a great opportunity to learn from really experienced people and you get to take on more responsibility, developing your own work experience and gaining a qualification.

"If you want to get your foot in the door to a long-term career, these programmes are a great way to kickstart your working life.”

Nicola Medalova, managing director for interconnectors at National Grid, said: “Through our education centre and apprenticeship programmes, we’re really hoping to inspire younger generations to consider engineering and help them to understand the number of different roles them about the number of different roles involved in such a large infrastructure project.

“This project has been years in the making, and along the way we really wanted talent in the region to be able to get involved, find out more and be part of the journey with us.

"Providing local apprenticeships has been an important part of that.

"It’s exciting to see careers starting out on projects like North Sea Link, with our apprentices having the opportunity to really be at the forefront of the workforce helping to tackle climate change.”Dan Tingle, New Talent & STEM manager at National Grid, said: “Different sectors and industries around the country can benefit from apprenticeships.

"Creating these roles in different towns and sectors, villages or cities will see a raft of talented individuals emerging and help companies go from strength to strength.

"And, against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, where young people are facing one of the toughest job markets for generations, employers can help support and leverage motivated young minds.”