A group of fourteen teachers from Ninh Thuan Vocational College (NTVC) went from 18 – 21 September 2022 on a field trip to the Dak Lak Province and participated in an Operation & Maintenance Training at Tay Nguyen Wind Park. This training was conducted by O&M (Operation and Maintenance) experts for wind turbines of Industry Building Services (IBS), a Vietnamese Company specialised in establishing and operating wind energy turbines and parks.

The teachers could experience a wind energy park of 28 megawatt in real and even climb up to the nacelle and rotor blades of a 94-meter-high wind turbine. They learned necessary safety procedures and gained knowledge to identify, operate and maintain components of the 2-megawatt turbine. They also made a deep dive into required control systems such as WindSCADA and WindCONTROL and could consolidate their competence in LiDAR wind measurement.

This field trip to the wind park was an unforgettable experience for all TVET teachers and inspires them to impart this kind of knowledge to our trainees and teacher colleagues. Ms. Ngo Thi Kim Hau, one of four women participating in the field trip, expressed: “Such things as low-speed shafts, the variable speed conversion, high-speed shafts and coupling, the generators, hydraulic systems, I have only learned through theory before. Being the first women and TVET teacher to climb up this wind turbine and, for the first time see the equipment inside a Nacelle, I feel very fortunate and proud”.

The further training was implemented in the frame of the Development Partnership (DPP) Vocational Training Center for Renewable Energies – Wind and Solar Technology. The DPP is implemented jointly by the cooperation partners Vietnam Industries Building Services JSC, Festo Didactic SE, Schneider Electric Vietnam, Ninh Thuan Vocational College, and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) represented by the Programme Reform of TVET in Vietnam and supported by the develoPPP.de programme of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).