Castellaneta wind farm: on the road with the service team

Le scarpe, per favore!» Maria Castaldi points to the shoes. “Sorry?” “Please put on safety shoes!” We are visiting the Castellaneta wind farm in Apulia, in southern Italy. And because there are dangerous insects here and possibly snakes, we have to put on the safety shoes before we get out of the car.

Maria has been working for BKW in Italy for a year. She grew up in Naples and now lives in Rome. The 51-year-old leads a team of 73 wind technicians, only four of whom are women. The team looks after 754 wind turbines in southern Italy. Some of them belong to BKW, some to third-party customers. The safety shoes are now on. Before we can go up the wind turbine, Maria gives us a “Gstältli” – the safety harness. And a safety briefing: the technician’s instructions must be followed! “And right at the top, on the roof of the nacelle, you must be very careful to ensure that one of the two carabiners attached to the Gstältli is always hooked into the safety loops.”

When it comes to occupational safety, Maria does not joke around. In the car, she had just been joking with Emanuele Paolozza, an experienced wind technician. But now, at the foot of the wind turbine, her face turns serious. “There are husbands, fathers and daughters in my team. I want everyone to be back home with their families in the evening.”

Breathtaking view

Now it’s time to take the rickety lift around 90 metres up. Then through the narrow nacelle, past the gearbox, and out through the hatch into the open air.

The view of Apulia’s high plateau is fantastic. Looking down at the field, where a tiny tractor is currently sowing winter wheat, is, however, somewhat dizzying. What had Maria said down on the ground? Always remember that one of the two carabiners is attached to the safety loops! Maria herself also enjoys the view: “When I’m up here, the problems of everyday life suddenly become small.”

Control centre for 300 wind turbines

By now, everyone has safely come back down from the wind turbine in the lift. In the car, Maria checks whether the photographer on the back seat has also fastened his seat belt. “Nobody rides in my car unless they have fastened their seat belt,” she says. The road has a few potholes; it is bumpy. “When it comes to safety, I have a Swiss heart.” Her team works from four bases near Troia, a small town in the region – not to be confused with its famous sister city in Turkey. Troia is also home to the control room from which BKW manages its 42 wind farms with more than 300 wind turbines in Europe.

If there is a fault with one of the wind turbines, Donato Narducci, who is on duty in the control room this afternoon, tries to resolve the problem from here. For example, by restarting the turbine’s electronic control system. If the wind turbine still does not run after that, he calls out the responsible technician – whether they are close by in southern Italy, in northern Germany or in the Bernese Jura on Mont Soleil.

Services for the whole of Europe

Maria’s team has grown significantly in recent months. BKW is significantly expanding its service business in the wind sector under the Arowya brand. In doing so, BKW not only has the advantage of a good reputation in Italy, but can also operate independently of one of the major wind turbine manufacturers. For example, Arowya employees in Italy maintain 18 different wind turbine models from five manufacturers. “Wind farm operators enjoy working with us because we do good work and can respond flexibly to customer needs,” says Maria. And what good work means is easy to measure in the wind business: the more hours a wind turbine runs without a fault, the better the work of the service technicians obviously is. And the more electricity the plant produces – which is, of course, good for revenue.

Training directly within the team

The market for independent service providers such as BKW is growing, and business is going well. However, it is also difficult in Italy to find well-qualified employees. “We train many of them ourselves on site,” says Maria. “To do this, we build mixed teams with an experienced technician and a younger colleague.” This works well, says Maria: “If someone likes the job on the turbine and has a technical understanding, then they learn everything important with us.” But technology is not everything: “The crucial thing about our employees is their interpersonal skills,” says Maria. “Because up on the wind turbine, you have to be able to rely on each other completely.”

Towards the end of the day, many employees return to the workshop in Troia. “Ciao, va bene?”, asks Maria, greeting most of them by name, shaking hands and chatting. She enjoys being with her people and not just sitting in front of the computer working on Excel sheets. You can sense it: although Maria has only been working at BKW for a year, the Italian boss with a Swiss heart has arrived in the company.

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