HOME > NEWS & PRESS > NEWS ITEM Owens providing wind energy training at The SourceShare Toledo Free Press Eighteen displaced and unemployed workers are participating in the initial wind turbine installation and maintenance technician programs. This first short-cycle training class is part of Owens Community College’s program funded by $1.9 million from a federal stimulus grant. It combines two certificate programs in the installation and maintenance of wind turbines for students who complete the training. Eighteen students have completed the first two weeks of the program at The Source Downtown. Some of them previously participated in solar installation and maintenance courses offered by Owens. “Owens Community College is committed to providing state-of-the-art education and training opportunities within the growing fields of alternative and renewable energy,” said Michael Bankey, vice president of Workforce and Community Services at Owens. Student James Curtis of Toledo wants to work in the wind turbine or any green energy field. He was laid off in May as a research and development technician at Pierburg Pump Technology and formerly with Dana Corp. “We lowered and raised the actual wind turbine at Owens for hands-on experience with the equipment,” Curtis said. “We opened the turbine and reset the relay control on it,” said Chris Screptock of the Toledo area. The wind turbine was recently installed adjacent to the Industrial and Engineering Technologies Building on Owens’ campus. The 2.4-kilowatt Skystream wind turbine is a fully integrated, utility-connected wind generator standing 33 feet high and designed for residential and small commercial use. “The wind turbine plays an important role in the new wind turbine installation and wind maintenance technician certificate programs, providing students with hands-on learning experience at the highest level of curricular innovation,” Bankey said. Meyette said he was interested in learning about new green energy technology before this training program was offered. He worked as a supervisor for Bax Global in Swanton, but said he was among 41 workers recently laid off. Pamela Peters, who lives in the Toledo area, would like to see more projects in Northwest Ohio involving wind, solar or geothermal since she wants to stay in this area. She is one of two women in the wind training program. Workers in the wind power and specialty technologies will have to be willing to travel for jobs in those fields. Wind power is used mostly in rural areas where the installation and maintenance of wind turbines would occur, according to Craig Gebers, a one-stop operator at The Source. Green By Design, located on state Route 25 in Bowling Green, employs workers who install and maintain wind turbines and solar installations in Northwest Ohio, according to Chris Downey, sales manager for the firm. Green By Design has five employees who work on the installation of solar panels and wind turbines with two of them involved in the maintenance of solar and wind energy equipment, according to Downey. The company bid on the wind turbine installation at Owens, but did not get that project. It did install the wind turbine at Northwest State College in Archbold, Downey said. “They need to have some general construction knowledge and excavation experience, but especially electrical expertise to install and maintain wind and solar equipment,” he said. Custom Agri Systems Inc. has installed 25 wind turbines in the past three years, mostly for farm and grain businesses. The company has six employees who are involved in the installation and maintenance of the equipment, according to Barry Randau, IT and renewable energy director for the firm in Napoleon. Custom Agri Systems has other locations in Attica and Upper Sandusky, Indiana and Michigan. |
