A Spain-based curriculum for training workers on totally new alternative energy technologies could be on its way to West Michigan – perhaps the first region in the U.S. to employ the training. A consortium of community colleges and universities is working to bring that technology to workers here in response to the alternative energy boom.
According to excerpts from the story:
Teaching a class on auto repair and maintenance isn't too challenging, if your school has a car to work on. But what if the class needs to learn how to repair and maintain a 2.3 megawatt Siemens wind turbine? The Siemens 2.3 MW has a 90-ton nacelle that houses the guts of the generating machinery and is 262 feet above the ground. The turbine blades are about 165 feet long, and the complete unit costs millions of dollars to buy and install.
"It's a pretty expensive proposition, some of this stuff we will need for training," said Julie Parks, director of work force training programs at Grand Rapids Community College. Parks, who just returned from a trip to Spain to meet with manufacturers of alternative energy equipment, is heading a consortium of community colleges and universities from southwest Michigan to Traverse City that want to share the time and expense in setting up a training facility.
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