Development manager at Skive College Jens Høffner makes no secret of how the educational institution has managed to open its new Climate and Energy Technology Teaching Laboratory.
- It would not have been possible without the Nordea Foundation, where we received around six million DKK in early 2024. So our Climate and Energy Technology Teaching Laboratory came into being in the latter part of the year, explains the development manager and briefly mentions that things are going very well for the educational institution:
- The electricity, wind and supply area is really booming. The high-voltage and wind education programs are booked up. We could take more students if we had more space and more teachers.
There are plans to solve one bottleneck, however.
- We are going to recruit teachers for the electricity and supply sector, it says.
Even though things are going well, we are keeping an eye on developments in the USA.
- We have just acquired GE as a customer, and we have several other European customers who are on the American market. That is why we are very attentive to what is happening in the USA. Right now there is nothing to indicate a slowdown, notes Jens Høffner.
- There is always a delay in our work, because the companies have booked the orders they have in their order books, he explains.
At the same time, the school is working with the industry on improvements.
- We are working with GWO (Global Wind Organisation ed.) to create standards for high-voltage work. There is a desire for the same standards to apply globally, says Jens Høffner, explaining the background:
- Right now there are different standards in the countries, and it is a big job for companies to maintain the different requirements. The majority of the industry is participating in the development work.
More volts on the way
In connection with the expansion of renewable energy with more solar cells and wind turbines, this means that more electricity must be transported. This will require increased cable capacity.
- We were the first in the world to have certified high-voltage courses in 72 kilovolts - that is, 72,000 volts, explains Jens Høffner.
The course is in collaboration with the cable provider Nexans, who sends all students exam assignments before a student can receive their certification. In the meantime, the course is also available internally at Nexans in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Finland. But the development does not stop there.
- Soon we will go up to 134,000 volts. For us, this will mean investments and cooperation with cable suppliers, says Jens Høffner.
It is a doubling, which it is still uncertain whether Skive College will follow.
- Things take time, and we cannot just be a school for one industry, explains Jens Høffner, while he shows inside the Climate and Energy Technology Teaching Laboratory.
For now, there is the opportunity for students to learn to work with automatic control, where they control electrolysis plants, among other things. They can also learn to adjust the pitch of wind turbine blades and handle a filling system such as at the local brewery Hancock in Skive.
High-voltage technology is another focus area, where students work with high-voltage cables, simulate electrical systems in wind turbines and learn how energy from renewable energy plants is transported and transformed.
The laboratory also provides insight into the hydraulics used for braking systems, blade adjustment and control of nacelles in wind turbines and in electrolysis plants. At the same time, work is being done to include these areas in the Climate and Energy Technology Education Laboratory.
- We are in dialogue with suppliers to expand the laboratory's capacities with power converter and inverter technology in addition to battery systems and cooling and compressor systems. Our ambition is to be able to complement the laboratory with this equipment within a short time, so that we can cover all relevant technologies within modern renewable energy installations, says Jens Høffner.
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