Drax Power begins its latest search for future engineers next week (Monday 5th December).
The company, which operates the UK’s largest power station – and now the country’s biggest single site renewable power generator – is looking to recruit a further six apprentices to join its training programme beginning in 2017.
The places are available in three engineering disciplines: Mechanical, Electrical and Control & Instrumentation. Applications will open online at the Drax website from Monday 5th December.
Students must have or be predicted to achieve GCSEs at grade C or above in Maths, English and Science and have two additional GCSEs at grade C or above (or equivalent) in any other subject to apply.
Andy Koss, chief executive at Drax said: “We are delighted to announce further expansion of our apprenticeship programme. This is designed to help equip young people with the engineering skills they’ll need to succeed in modern industry and is an opportunity to join a company at the forefront of innovation and technology in power generation.”
He added: “The country’s energy system is changing dramatically as we move to cleaner, low carbon electricity to tackle the challenge of climate change. Drax has made a significant contribution to the UK’s renewable technology mix with our upgrades to biomass.
“Our apprentices develop their skills and knowledge in a world-leading technological environment where we have achieved carbon savings of over 80% compared to coal and are now the largest carbon saving project in Europe.”
This intake of apprentices will join the programme in August next year, bringing the total currently training at Drax to 19.
The four year Drax Apprenticeship Scheme is managed by the Apprenticeship Employment Agency (AEA) for the first two years, with apprentices spending most of the first year at the Uniper Engineering Academy, an industry training centre near Nottingham. The second year is split between Drax and the academy with years three and four spent entirely at Drax.
Apprentices qualify with either a BTEC National Diploma in Engineering or NVQ 3 Diploma in Electrical Power Engineering – Power Plant Maintenance.
Andy added: “Our apprenticeship scheme has many success stories, with former Drax apprentices having progressed to become technicians and supervisors.
“At Drax Power Station today, we have engineers, sections heads and department managers that have all come from an apprenticeship background. We look forward to welcoming and working with more young people keen to develop their career at Drax.”
