Global Wind Organisation (GWO) has revealed its network is emerging from Covid-19 lock down. As many as six in 10 GWO certified training providers expect to have re-opened their doors by the end of this week (May 18 – 22), according to a survey of the network. The GWO market survey found that globally, training providers expected to deliver 59% of the number of courses in May 2020 when compared to the same period of last year. This number rises quickly to 89% in June and 91% in July.
Some training providers expect to be very busy for the next two to three months, meeting a backlog of training demand in a workplace where technicians must refresh their certificates every two years. Others expect a much-reduced workload as demand is impacted by continuing challenges domestically. For these reasons, Spanish training providers who remain unable to open until at least the final week of May are expecting very limited training this month, while most Polish companies have remained open throughout the pandemic and anticipate a busy period from now onwards.
In North America, where the number of training providers has grown to 17 locations across 11 states and two provinces in 2020, survey responses indicate re-opening is underway. In the three-month period of May through July, training providers in Canada expect to be fully operational. Training providers in the United States expect to deliver 63% of courses in May, and more than 90% for June and July.
During the pandemic, up to 1,000 technicians each week saw their Basic Safety Training (BST) certificates run out of validity with limited access for retraining.The results of this survey are based on sentiment and may not reflect actual activity. Several limitations have been identified including the influence of demand from customers, the potential for delay in re-opening caused by continued effects of the pandemic and the likelihood some training providers may not return to operation.
