Richard James Wonnacott

April 2019 - Began the role as Technical Manager, advising and supporting on technical issues within utility scale solar farms, central and string inverters and other solar related components.

Training field technicians both remotely and on site.

Supporting the commercial department with client questions, attending meetings with all departments including clients where technical advice is needed.

Obtaining quotes and arranging third party site visits such as inverter manufacturers, raising purchase orders via Tipalti. Ensuring correct documentation, risk assessments and method statements in place.

Oversee Recurrent Energy (PSH Operations) Fimer Service Partner activities for two years. Arranging training, techs site visits, reporting, billing.

March 2024 - Promoted to Head of technical, running a team of six technical managers, overseeing the day to day running of the Technical Support Team whilst continuing to support and train field technicians, all other duties as per Technical Manager still apply.

• Operational maintenance of large scale/commercial solar installations covering mainly Northern UK with occasional trips to other areas of the country.
• Fault finding and fault rectification, periodic preventative maintenance, string fault rectification, monitoring of plants via GPM to identify faults before site visits where possible.
• Reactive maintenance for major faults involving weekend call out system when required.
• Contractor induction including permits to work when necessary.

• Commissioning, service and repair of Power one/Aurora/ABB solar inverters of all versions both centralized & string inverters throughout the UK.
• Fault finding within large scale solar plants both AC/DC & communications.
• Reporting to the field service team leader arranging plant visits as necessary.
• Liaising with clients with regards to plant visits, issues and general assistance.

• Commissioning, maintenance, repair & fault diagnosis of Large solar installations within the UK involving SMA Centralised inverters.
• Maintenance, repair/exchange & fault diagnosis of all solar inverters within the SMA range on small as well as large installations.
• Fault diagnosis & repair/exchange of communication equipment within the SMA range on various size installations.
• Liaison with customers to arrange plant visits and advise of any action where required.
• Write reports on all activities and escalate issues to other parties where necessary.
• Report to the Service Manager/department informing them of issues unable to be immediately solved and what further parts/action are required.
• Receive service requirements from service manager/co-ordinator and arrange service visits depending on priority.
• On site training of newer/inexperienced SMA service technicians.

• Working on the SMA serviceline, answering customer calls & emails, troubleshooting problems via phone & email.
• Ordering spares and exchange parts/inverters where problems cannot be solved over the phone.
• Escalate issues to SMA 2nd level support where necessary & advise customers of findings, take action as required.
• Service visits to repair/troubleshoot issues with SMA products. Replace products where necessary.

• Working on a building development of 14 apartments involving all aspects of groundwork including, drainage, footings, setting out and laying of kerbs and all groundworks required for the development.

• As per Electrician/Auto Electrician plus: Assessing what materials are required & preparing stores list and ordering materials required for each job to be built/Modified.
• Advising Directors and Shop floor Manager on Any Electrical issues that may arise.
• Training, advising & overseeing of two other electricians within the company. Including allocating work and ensuring that the builds run smoothly and tasks are completed as required.
• Final checks and inspections of all builds before delivery to the customer.

• Installation and testing of all Electrical work involved within the building of various leisure and commercial vehicles.
• Repair and fault finding involved with second hand vehicles as customers require.
• Ensuring work is completed to a high standard and done as required and on time.
• Some amount of fabrication using fibreglass, aluminium, steel and various types of wood/timber as required.

• As per Installation Engineer plus: To deputise in the absence of the Principal Installation Engineer, co-ordinating a team of installers in day to day activities, dealing with problems that arise, reporting to the Regional Team Leader.
• Training of new and existing staff within the installation team.
• Installation and Commissioning of all Vodafone paging equipment within my region.
• Commissioning of RBS sites & final tests before handing over to Field Operations.
• Learning new technology as it is introduced into the company and training the rest of the team as required. Including roll out of the UMTS network using Ericsson RBS3000 equipment.
• To ensure all staff are completing work as laid out in company procedures, QA inspections and to update staff on any changes in work practices/procedures.
• To survey installations prior to starting build & to make sure the correct materials and equipment are ordered and delivered to site on schedule.
• To Ensure all staff are issued with the correct tools and equipment & to organise issue or replacement as necessary.

• Reporting to the Principal Installation Engineer, covering the UK but mainly the Thames Valley, Southwest & South Wales.
• Installation, expansion & maintenance of GSM Cellular/RBS sites within the Vodafone network.
• Base station commissioning in busy periods and MTX installations.
• Liaison with external companies involved with all aspects of the Vodafone cellular network and other Vodafone departments at all levels.
• Extensive use of PC, various packages & testing/commissioning software.
• Work involves fault finding and repair as necessary. Including call out when required.

• Manufacture of roof tiles on a busy production line.
• Quality assurance and Fork lift truck driving.
• Operation of computerised plant machinery.
• General manual labour.

• After successfully completing one year training I was posted to West Germany as it was then where I spent two years patrolling the East German border.
• I also spent time in Northern Ireland, Canada, Norway, Austria and the UK.
• I learnt how to communicate & work with people of all levels as well as working on my own initiative & as part of a team.