Julien Vialettes, Aberdeenshire Area Manager, Shares Engineering Journey and Reveals His Vision for Gael Energy's Future

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Julien Vialettes, Gael Energy’s Area Manager for Aberdeenshire, who told us about his unique education and training in engineering, his work history to date, and his vision for the future of Gael Energy.

Julien attended a hands-on college in France, Compagnons du Devoir, which is similar to the UK's City and Guilds, where elder students taught the younger ones. The French Compagnonnage system is distinctive in its approach to teaching and preserving craftsmanship in areas such as stonework, woodworking, metalworking, carpentry, leatherwork, textiles, and food preparation. Working during the day in a company as an employee and studying theory at night from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm and full-day Saturdays, the program blends various methods of transferring knowledge: initiation ceremonies, formal schooling, traditional learning, technical apprenticeships, and national and international travel.

Individuals aged 16 and above who aspire to excel in a specific trade can join a Compagnonnage group. The training typically spans five years, during which apprentices, like Julien, travel across different locations in France and sometimes internationally to acquire a diverse skill set. The term ‘Tour de France’ (unrelated to the cycling competition!) refers to this extensive travel within France, where Compagnons are required to change work locations every six months to a year. In addition to traveling across France and learning various engineering disciplines, Julien also spent a year in the UK to learn the English language.

Through Compagnons du Devoir, Julien completed an apprenticeship at Volvo Trucks in Albi, in the south of France, where he is from. This was followed by a move to the east of France to work with Sandvik on drilling machinery for mines in Canada. He later focused on geothermal drilling machinery applications in western France working for Ecofore, before moving to the UK in 2007.

In the UK, he began as a marine engineer, working at Thistle Marine in Peterhead for seven years. This job allowed him to work all over the UK and Europe, traveling to places like Romania. He then joined Fisher Offshore in Oldmeldrum for three years, where he specialised in winches and hydraulics offshore and onshore until economic downturns in the oil industry necessitated a shift.

Julien's former director from Thistle Marine asked him if he wanted a job with Palfinger as a mobile engineer. Julien then stayed with Palfinger for 5 years before meeting Hamish, Gael Energy’s Managing Director, on a job to repair one of Gael Energy's lorry cranes. After a few conversations with Hamish, who happened to be looking for mobile onshore turbine engineers, and encouraged by his wife to move into renewables, Julien joined Gael Energy in April 2020.

Having navigated challenges during the early COVID-19 pandemic and having initially worked out of a little shed rented from a farm, Julien is now based in Newburgh with a team consisting of Wind Turbine Engineers, Aidan and Gregory. Gael Energy’s facility in Aberdeenshire has a well-equipped workshop with specialised areas for clean electrical work, as well as sizeable workshop and yard providing extensive storage capacity for parts and machinery maintenance.

Inspired by his educational experiences from Compagnons du Devoir, Julien's vision for the future is to establish Gael Energy in Aberdeen as a training hub for new talent, combining practical experience and theoretical learning for C&F, C&F Large 100kW, and SD turbines. He emphasised the need for mentoring young individuals, providing hands-on experience, and potentially facilitating their transition into roles within the larger onshore and offshore turbine industry.