Tehachapi News

Tehachapi native merits attention from National Geographic

Dave Schulgen, the Tehachapi born President and founder of a rapidly growing wind energy business, Airstreams, recently gained the interest of National Geographic for his contribution and experience in the rapidly growing wind business.

Schulgen was featured in the October 2007 issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine, in an article highlighting the ever growing need for wind technicians and experts as the wind industry thrives.

Schulgen initially became interested in wind energy while working at California Portland Cement co. which he left in 1985 to join Zond Systems.

He received his training as an electrician while serving in the Marine Corps. Reserves. At that time his interest was concentrated on the electrical aspect of the wind turbines.

His career lead him to work with Zond which later became Enron Wind as Director of Field Operations for Commercial Americas, where he was responsible for several thousand wind turbines. He also held the position of Director of Manufacturing responsible for all of Enron’s EW 1.5s built in 2001.

After the purchase of Enron by GE Wind Energy and working for 18 years for these major companies, Schulgen decided to part with GE to found Airstreams. 

He began his company with two employees in 2002, and has now grown to include 24 employees including many local people he has worked with over the last 20 years.

Although an expert in his field, Schulgen is not one to boast of his accomplishments, so initially he was a little embarrassed by the attention the NG article brought him. His embarrassment quickly turned to gratitude when the calls began pouring in from around the nation.

“The marketing was priceless. It overshadowed the embarrassment,” said Schulgen.

Writing the curriculum for the Junior College system in California, as a Wind Turbine Technician Training course, was just one of the great opportunities Schulgen’s company acquired through the unexpected publicity.

“With the wind industry estimated to grow at a rate of 25 percent per year worldwide, it is essential that we begin to focus on educating the next generation of windsmiths,” said Schulgen.

The growing demand for specialized independent training lead Airstreams to launch their newest company, Airstreams Training Services (ATS).  ATS will offer local training in its new training facility in addition to providing OSHA safety courses and wind turbine technical training throughout the industry.

For more information on services and training provided through Airstreams, visit www.air-streams.com.