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Windtex in Norway

Posted 28th April, 2022

Blade Division News

After gaining preferred contractor status for a client in Europe the Windtex blade division are in full swing on a wind farm in Norway. This is something the management at Windtex are very proud of and they are working very hard to ensure the contract runs smoothly. The teams that have mobilised to Norway are of the highest standard and have a proven track record when it comes to complex repairs, having worked on this particular wind turbine technology and rotor blade variant consistently for the past 3 years.

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Stunning Location

The municipality of Fitjar

Fitjar (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈfɪ̂tːjɑr]) is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The municipality is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. Fitjar municipality includes the northern part of the island of Stord and the hundreds of surrounding islands, mostly to the northwest of the main island. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fitjar.

Compliance Challenges

Red tape, red tape and more red tape!

The management at Windtex soon found out how much of a challenge it would be to mobilise teams to work in Norway. Differences in compliance, logistics and working regulations between the UK and Norway along with a few issues that Brexit has thrown at us meant that getting a workforce mobilised had to be planned meticulously.

Systems have been put in place that allow Windtex to mobilise further teams swiftly thanks to assistance from our partners Advokatfirmaet Magnus Legal AS in Norway and after some very careful planning, the first team arrived in Norway and got straight to work the morning after their arrival.

"It’s been a plea­sure work­ing with Phil Turn­er and his team at Wind­tex. As a law-firm spe­cial­is­ing in assist­ing for­eign com­pa­nies doing busi­ness in Nor­way, we ful­ly acknowl­edge that the Nor­we­gian bureau­cra­cy can be rather exhaust­ing how­ev­er, Wind­tex han­dled every­thing very pro­fes­sion­al­ly and pro­vid­ed us with the doc­u­men­ta­tion and facts we need­ed. In short, Mag­nus Legal estab­lished a small team of experts with­in var­i­ous rel­e­vant legal fields (pri­mar­i­ly tax, VAT, com­pli­ance, immi­gra­tion and labour law) and togeth­er with Wind­tex we were able to project a smooth entry into Norway."

Øivind Henrik von Mehren Partner - Magnus Legal

Leading Edge Errosion

New Product Utilisation
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Leading Edge Protection Paint

Windtex have been tasked with using an innovative new leading edge protection paint. Previous methods of maintaining the condition of the leading edge of a rotor blade have meant using a protective tape, this has always been cumbersome, time consuming and can only be done in very low wind speeds. The protective paint being utilised is faster and simpler to apply and can be done in multiple stages if needed, whereas to get optimised application with leading edge protection tape it needs to be applied in one length, without any joints to prevent water or wind ingress.

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Workforce Leisure Time

Work-life balance is an important aspect of a healthy work environment. Maintaining work-life balance helps reduce stress and helps prevent burnout in the workplace. Windtex understand this and do everything practical to ensure our technicians make the most out of their time off. For the project in Norway we have made arrangements so that the technicians can use mountain bikes and professional photography equipment whilst staying in this beautiful Nordic region.

Team Accommodation

As well as leisure time being important for work-life balance, we believe that rest time is just as essential. The Windtex senior coordinator 'Lindsay' always ensures that the teams have a 'Home from Home' where they can rest and be comfortable in at the end of each day. Both directors used to be technicians and know from personal experience how moral can be effected if accommodation is not up to a good standard, they believe that their technicians should not stay in accommodation that they wouldn't stay in themselves.

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