A lecturer from Develop Training Limited (DTL) will be spending three weeks at Ascension Island to deliver one of the company’s most unusual assignments. DTL has won a contract from Babcock Communications to provide High Voltage (HV) training for operatives maintaining the HV network on the isolated volcanic island in the South Atlantic.
Commercial flights to the island are in short supply since the Airbridge was cancelled in April 2017 due to runway issues. This means that HV Lecturer Stuart Gilby will be travelling for much longer than the previous eight-hour flight direct from RAF Brize Norton. Gilby will be delivering training on site for two weeks, but the trip has been extended to three weeks to allow him to catch the commercial flight out. Even then, it will take more than 48 hours and several flights to make the long journey home to North-West England.
Five wind turbines on Ascension Island help to sustainably power BBC World Service short wave transmissions to Africa. The 53m tall wind turbines were made by Enercon in Germany, who chartered a ship to deliver them, and can collectively deliver up to 1650kW on a windy day. Power from the wind farm goes directly into the island’s electricity grid, which uses between 1000kW and 3000kW depending on the time of day and the BBC transmitting schedule.
Write a comment
No comments