New training yard aims to ease Estonia’s network electrician shortage

Estonia is facing a shortage of electricians who work outdoors, ERR reported, as the Tartu Applied College has opened a training yard for network electricians in southern Estonia.

Network electricians have not been trained at national level since 2004. Skills related to electricity networks are currently acquired through further training, but this has not produced enough new specialists to meet demand driven by network upgrades, electrification and the construction of new generation facilities.

“Training has been left to employers. It is a huge burden, and until now we have not been able to take specialists directly from school,” said Riho Laanemets, administrative manager at E-Service.

The college has previously trained only indoor electricians, with work on external electricity networks covered in theory. The new training yard allows students to climb actual utility poles and gain practical experience.

“They stand next to the pole and see how high it is, but physically climbing it is a different matter. They can get that experience here,” said Katrin Vaher, a mentor at Tartu Applied College.

Second-year electrician student Bryan said the work was more difficult than it appeared. Students must position themselves carefully while climbing and account for the pole moving and swaying.

The training yard could eventually allow students in Tartu to specialise as network electricians. Vaher said the college’s longer-term goal was to establish an electricity-sector competence centre in southern Estonia, including the ability to conduct vocational examinations.

Laanemets said the yard could host the level four vocational examination, allowing candidates to complete all the required tasks there and helping produce future network electricians.