Demand high for wind energy, biofuel technicians
By Melinda Voss, Published May 25, 2007

For Dale Garbers, the proliferation of slender white wind turbines in southwest Minnesota means the demand for wind energy technicians to keep them turning blows as strong as a March wind.

An instructor in the nation’s first wind energy technology program, which began last year at Minnesota West Community and Technical College, Garbers already has wind energy companies clamoring for his students.

“It’s just wild,” said Garbers, who is based at the college’s Canby campus. “One company that called thought I had 20 graduates. They wanted to come in and hire all of them.”

The nascent program’s first five stu­dents are expected to graduate this spring. Eighteen more students are in line to earn their associate in applied science degrees in 2008. The two-year program is expected to graduate about 30 students a year by 2009, Garbers said.

The timing couldn’t be better, said Ed­ward Garvey, deputy commissioner for energy and telecommunications at the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

“Minnesota is at the beginning of an exciting new era with renewable energy,” he said. “The renewable energy programs at Minnesota West and the other Min­nesota State Colleges and Universities provide a solid foundation for the state to stay competitive, reduce adverse en­vironmental effects from fossil fuels and expand its economic base.”

But, Garvey noted: “We’ve spent years developing conventional fuels and the structures to support them. We’re now going to need years to do the same thing for renewable fuels and wind-generated electricity.”

At the forefront of this change is Min­nesota West, where staff began devel­oping technician training programs in wind energy and ethanol production in the 1990s with grants from state and non­profit sources.

Both renewable energy programs proved a good fit for the college.

“Southwest Minnesota is the natural place for the biofuels and wind energy industries,” Wood said. “This is where crops come out of the ground and the wind blows the most.”

Strong partnerships with nearby renew­able energy companies helped. Fagan, Inc., an engineering firm that builds etha­nol plants, has its corporate headquarters in Minnesota. Suzulon Energy, Ltd., a leading manufacturer of wind turbine blades based in India, recently opened a $14 million plant in the state partly be­cause of the college.

Spurred by rising fuel costs and concern about global warm­ing, Minnesota’s de­mand for renewable energy is growing. In February, state of­ficials mandated the most far-reaching re­newable-energy stan­dards in the country.

Under the new law, which allows some flex­ibility in its implemen­tation, Xcel Energy must provide 30 per­cent of its power from renewable sources by 2020. The state’s other energy companies would have to gener­ate 25 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2025.

Currently, wind turbines generate about 3.5 percent of the state’s electri­cal power, and an estimated 3,000 new wind turbines would generate most of the additional renewable energy. On the renewable fuels front, state officials man­dated that motor fuels contain at least 20 percent ethanol by 2013, if certain federal policies are in place.

Technicians who service wind turbines play a seldom-noticed but critical role, Garbers said. With minimal supervi­sion, they carry out complex as­sembly, mainte­nance and repair of wind turbine generators.

They also program “logic controllers” and monitor each turbine to ensure efficiency.

Until age 40, John Konstant was a heavy equipment me­chanic who had never cared about the chemistry of bacteria.

But his disinterest quickly turned to fascination after he quit his job and en­rolled in the nation’s first renewable en­ergy technology program at Minnesota West’s Granite Falls campus.

“At that point, I was eager to learn any­thing,” Konstant recalled. “I was in a dead-end job. The ethanol industry was poised for major growth. I figured I would give myself the best chance I could find.”

Eight years later, Konstant manages the plant in Lake Crystal, Minn., for Northstar Ethanol, but he hasn’t left Minnesota West behind. The college is a major source for new employees.

“In this industry, it’s hard to keep peo­ple in school to complete the program because we like to hire them right away,” Konstant said.

Educated technicians are indeed in demand, said Duane Carrow, an in­structor in the program. Already, the country has 150 ethanol plants in opera­tion, and 60 more are under construc­tion. Each plant typically needs about 40 employees. Technicians usually start at $15 an hour but can move quickly to $22 an hour or higher.

Voss is the public relations director for the Minnesota State Colleges and Uni­versities. This article first appeared in the organization’s Spring 2007 magazine.