Tehachapi News
The future is a breeze for local ROP wind technician students
The future is a breeze for local ROP wind technician students
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Posted by editor Wed Nov 30, -0001 00:00:00 PST
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With over 120 years of combined experience under their belts in the wind energy field, local wind energy experts, AirStreams, LLC, is joining forces with Tehachapi High School’s ROP program to provide professional wind technician training and certification to local students — of all ages and experience levels. The program’s instructor, Tehachapi resident Mike Messier, hopes to safely train the future wind workforce, and provide local job seekers with a solid future in one of the most quickly growing industries in the nation.
In December 2007, Mike Messier left his position as director of environmental health and safety at a major wind turbine manufacture to join Airstreams, where he has helped to create a new division offering training services within the industry. Messier and his team have utilized their wealth of experience to develop a Wind Energy Safety and Technical curriculum for several local community colleges.
This year alone, Airstreams has logged approximately 1,500 hours of curriculum development which the local ROP program is now able to take advantage of, thanks to special grant funding.
“And the advantages are many. Over the next five years there will be a huge boom in wind energy programs and jobs with a shortage of trained workers to fill these positions,” explained Messier.
With the rising costs of oil and an increasing focus on greenhouse effects becoming a global concern, clean wind energy will only become more popular, and demands for trained technicians will skyrocket, said Messier.
With Southern California Edison’s transmission project connecting the area’s wind industry to the statewide power grid by 2013, Tehachapi is at the epicenter of the largest wind energy transmission project in the United States. In addition to the 4,500 megawatts of wind power that will be generated, an estimated 500 construction jobs and 300 long-term wind related jobs will help to boost the area’s economy.
Tehachapi’s ROP wind tech program currently has 10 students, and will soon expand to 15 for the next session. The classes require six hours a week for Tuesday and Thursday evening classes. Classes are open to the community, although space is limited.
By graduation, these students will have spent over 140 hours learning safety and practical applications as well as getting hands on field experience. In the classroom they cover such topics as safety, electrical theory both AC and DC, schematics, fiber optics, hydraulics, maintenance practices, and the complex control systems that are the brains of the turbines, housed up to 300-feet high.
Students will also spend time gaining hands on experience by training on some of the 500 turbines currently operated and maintained by Airstreams, LLC.
Messier said this hands on training is critical to the student’s development, and will create a well rounded understanding of working safely on any wind turbine, even 300 feet up in the air.
“Wind power generators have been around for over 25 years, and large players in the wind industry like FPL (Florida Power & Light), Shell, GE (General Electric) and BP (British Petroleum) have mature safety programs which the other companies are adopting to ensure the workers safety,” Messier explained. “When the right policies are implemented and followed, this is a very safe work environment, even 300 feet up.”
Upon successful completion of the classes, students will have a Tech Level 1 grasp of the industry, and should easily be able to get a job within the industry as an entry level technician, Messier said. He said entry level wind tech jobs can range in pay from $20 to $30 an hour, and can climb significantly higher as additional education and experience are gained.
As daylight hours grow longer, the students are looking forward to spending some of their class time out in the field where they will have the opportunity to climb the towers and get their hands dirty, using what they’ve learned in class.
Local wind tech training
For information about the ROP Wind Turbine Technician program, please contact Tehachapi High School at 822-2130, or Mike Messier, Airstreams Training Services at 822-5624.
Messier hopes to work closely with the local wind companies concerning their training needs while creating a network of job openings and opportunities within the community.
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