Fortescue opens electrical skills training centre
Fortescue is addressing Australia’s electrical skills shortage by opening up a new centre to train the workers needed for its Pilbara operations.
The Power Up Training Centre in Perth, WA, aims to provide apprentices and tradespeople with practical, hands-on training in electrical, mechanical and emerging technologies.
Its electrical apprenticeship program will be delivered together with South Metropolitan TAFE, which will provide the accredited curriculum and qualifications. There will also be battery-electric vehicle post-trade training for mechanical tradespeople, with North Metropolitan TAFE providing the accredited curriculum and qualifications.
Fortescue Metals CEO Dino Otranto said that, as the company worked through its decarbonisation plans, one thing became clear: “the biggest challenge wasn’t the technology. It was making sure we had enough skilled people to install it, maintain it and keep it running.
“At the peak of our decarbonisation program, we’ll need around 1800 electricians across our business — or one in every 21 electricians in Western Australia,” Otranto said.
“We realised we couldn’t simply hire our way out of the problem. We needed to help create the workforce, and that’s exactly why we’ve built the Power Up Training Centre.
“Through our partnerships with South Metropolitan TAFE and North Metropolitan TAFE, we’re creating more pathways into electrical trades while helping existing workers build the skills needed to support battery-electric technologies.”
In what it describes as one of the world’s largest mining electrification programs, Fortescue is transitioning more than 800 pieces of heavy mobile equipment and 3000 light vehicles.
The company currently has 120 electrical apprentices and has doubled its intake for the second consecutive year. More than 700 fitters are undertaking battery-electric awareness training, while more than 150 tradespeople have already been upskilled in battery-electric vehicle maintenance.
Welcoming the announcement of the centre’s opening, WA Skills and Training Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said that large companies should be playing a bigger role in training Western Australians.
“Currently, small and medium enterprises help train the vast majority of the state’s apprentices,” Sanderson said.
“The Power Up Training Centre shows how WA’s world-class resources companies can step up to the plate and invest in the future of our skilled workforce.”
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