Our utilities blog, written by experts for experts, is primarily designed to transfer our know-how in energy and take our skills and capabilities to an outside audience. These specialist articles, in most cases written without product placement, are a way of entering into dialogue, on an equal basis, with our current and potential customers. We see our utilities blog as a free customer service that also gives our staff and experts a voice to speak for Repower to the world outside.

In 2018 we initiated three categories. Under Energy Strategy we deal with issues such as climate certificates, security of supply and mobility/transport. Under Innovation, interested readers can go into topics such as smart grids and energy management systems in more depth. Under Market and Renewable Energy we report, for example, on the energy transition and electricity market liberalisation. What’s important here is to always address topical, relevant energy-industry issues and link them in to the current debate.

It’s easiest to go to our website blog.repower.com. On the homepage you can also sign up for the utilities newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out on new developments. Repower is also present on the LinkedIn and XING business networks. Here online-savvy users will find more exciting news around Repower in addition to our blog posts.

Alongside LinkedIn and XING we also have a special Facebook page for parents of apprentices. And in line with the audience, we’ve set up an Instagram account for current and potential apprentices. We run a Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn page for our full-service electromobility provider PLUG’N ROLL. We also have a blog for electric vehicle fans, and send them an energy-rich newsletter on a regular basis. At Repower we don’t see social media as a challenge. We see it as an opportunity for everyone. For this reason we recently published social media guidelines to help employees active on social media find their way around these different platforms.

We worked on contracts for our customers in all areas of grid and generation: work on transmission grids and on grid and generation assets of other utilities, across the range of voltages. We also delivered public lighting projects for many local authorities. A new and very exciting development is the assembly work Repower has been subcontracted to do by equipment suppliers: I’m talking gas-insulated switchgear installations in the 72-kilovolt range built to extend and reinforce the grid.

Last year Repower did various jobs in this field. It started with a contract from Engadiner Kraftwerke for the retrofit of the switchgear at the Martina plant. Then in summer and autumn we set up more new installations in Canton Graubünden.

This type of installation is always delivered in the form of individual components. For the contracts last year Repower supplied the personnel to mechanically assemble these components. For one job we also got to execute the secondary system, in other words the wiring and installation of the electrical control and protection system.

Basically we were invited to tender. We’d managed to gather the requisite know-how on previous projects, so the customer was able to rely on Repower staff with the skills and experience to provide such highly-specialised services for third parties.

Basically we try to find a local solution so that we can put together a team from the same region if possible. Sometimes this isn’t possible because of other contracts. For this reason we sometimes bring together people from our various sites in the north, from the Surselva and Prättigau.

For this sort of contract an average of three or four people are deployed for several weeks or even months. But work on our grid and generation infrastructure still has to go on and be spread over the other people in the regions. This requires a special effort and flexibility from all our staff.

That’s correct. They spend more time in hotel rooms. Naturally that affects people’s private lives and the hobbies they’d like to be spending time on. Some staff have too many private commitments to do this kind of work, while others are glad to take it on because they see it as a welcome change. Work for external customers can sometimes be very interesting from a technical point of view.

No. All age groups are involved, as is the case everywhere else within Repower. We want to keep it that way. Older, experienced staff have a lot of knowledge, and we want them to pass this on to their younger colleagues. Everyone benefits from that kind of knowledge transfer.

So far we’ve managed to position ourselves well in Southeast Switzerland, and we want to continue successfully delivering these contracts. In the medium term we want to go further down this path. Our new organisation gives us a very good basis for doing so. But we’ll be keeping a close eye on the situation and exercising caution every step along the way. The goal is to increase the quality of our service for existing and new customers.