Texas is taking initiatives to meet the workforce needs of the rapidly growing wind power industry.

Texas continues to be the leader among all states in the U. S. in terms of wind capacity and largest wind farms installations.

Texas’ wind power capacity (7,118 MW) is way ahead of the second placed Iowa (2,791 MW), according to the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA). Texas installed the largest amount of new capacity in 2008— 2,671 MW. More new wind capacity was added in Texas during the year than in any country except China and the U.S.

Considering its leadership, Texas has also worked on a critical aspect to sustain its stature in the industry. 

Through Texas Wind Energy Institute (TWEI), the state intends to position itself as a leader in technical, managerial and professional education for the wind power industry. The objective of the Institute is to develop curriculum, course and programmes, expand capacity and recruit and prepare students to meet the workforce needs of the rapidly growing wind power industry in Texas.

Within the industry, training for operations is being covered by a combination of industry training programmes established by individuals companies and wind energy technology programmes developed by either state or community colleges. 

According to Keith Plantier, program manager for Texas Wind Energy Institute at Texas State Technical College, the number of programmes has increased quite rapidly over the last year or so.

“It has increased at such a pace that (currently) there isn’t any accurate count by AWEA or others as to how many (programmes are there),” said Plantier.

Challenges in training

Plantier says the biggest problem in this arena is the lack of a standardised curriculum, skill sets and national certification. 

Various schools/ institutions are currently working with AWEA to bring uniformity in this arena. This way the industry would be in a better position to understand the skill sets they will have post completion of a programme.

“Each school has to conform to the state they are located in with regards to learning objectives and outcomes,” said Plantier.

A national certification, which tests the student exiting the school prior to entering industry, will level the playing field.

“Even within the state of Texas, several wind programmes exist that all have very different agendas. So the Texas Wind Energy Institute has taken steps to identify what a wind technician does, file the job description with the Department of Labour and is on its way to building a certification series for wind technicians,” he added.

At the same time, according to Plantier, there are not many external programmes for companies to leverage within the market. 

The wind industry is very broad and diverse with respect  to management type positions. So, there can be a lot of different routes a person can take.  Plantier said, through industry queries, the Institute has identified the need to address several areas for management training like :

·          An individual with a non-technical or technical Bachelors degree but no industry experience,

·          An individual with no formal higher education and no industry experience, and

·          An individual with a lower technical degree who has worked in the industry with intentions of advancement from a technical to managerial position (i.e., a wind turbine technician wishing to enter into management but has no formal training in programme management, finances, etc.).

TWEI has set up a comprehensive programme which addresses these needs with a Bachelors of Science in University Studies with a focus on wind energy - a hybrid degree less intense than a full blown engineering degree but more than a business degree (under development), a Masters of Science in Wind Science and Engineering (under development), a PhD in Wind Science and Engineering (existing) and Graduate Certificates to address both technical and managerial tracks. 

All these classes are available through Texas Tech University. Additionally, Texas State Technical College has the Associates of Applied Science which will transfer in to the Bachelors programme at Texas Tech.

Hands-on technical skills

TWEI is a partnership between Texas State Technical College (TSTC) and Texas Tech University.

TSTC West Texas possesses a wind turbine, which is described as the first, full-scale, 60 cycle, two megawatt turbine built by the DeWind Corporation. The turbine has a drive train featuring a combination of a torque converter and a synchronous generator.

As part of the Wind Energy Technology Program, students learn to operate and maintain the systems that make a wind turbine function whether it’s an electrical, pneumatic, communications, computer, control or a hydraulic system.

Skills for O&M

Typically, if someone comes up through the ranks he will have the inherent knowledge at the operations and management level to address certain aspects of his job. 

There will be gaps, however, with no formal training. 

“I would anticipate that either through corporate training or other means, there would be a way to increase this person’s level of knowledge in this area,” said Plantier.

Citing an example, he said, an engineer who has moved into a programme management role, most of his or her experience with scheduling, finances, budgets, risk, etc have been learned on the job and applied in a way an engineer would understand them. 

Giving the engineer the proper tools to understand programme management from the ground up (either through corporate training or external programmes) will allow him or her to more effectively address the job and handle situations that he or she will face.