USA - South Dakota’s first training center in wind turbine technology

Mitchell Technical Institute will become home to South Dakota’s first training center in wind turbine technology under a plan approved Tuesday by the state Board of Education.

“The timing of this is perfect,” MTI President Greg Von Wald said late Tuesday. “There’s a huge surge going on in this country toward renewable energy and South Dakota is wind central.”

The approved two-year curriculum — to be implemented in the fall of 2009 — will have two exit points, he said.

“You can take the first year and exit after that with a diploma and you’ll be a basic windsmith,” said Von Wald. That will allow a student to do routine maintenance, service installation and construction.

“If you go on to the second year, you’ll get an associate’s degree and be able to do more advanced maintenance and troubleshooting,” he said.

Completing the associate’s degree will take five semesters of work, including a summer internship between years one and two.

“I think we’ll have a pretty good response,” said Von Wald.

Von Wald said MTI staff must get busy recruiting students and faculty. With Tuesday’s approval, MTI can begin signing students immediately.

The program will begin with 18 students, but if response is strong, the program has the potential to handle more, he said.

That number is a good place to start, said Public Utilities Commissioner Dusty Johnson, speaking by telephone Tuesday from a utility regulators conference in New Orleans.

“I think it’s phenomenal,” he said, and he called the Board of Education approval “farsighted.”

South Dakota will be a leader in renewable energy, he said, “and we’re going to need those workers here.”

Wind turbine programs are still relatively rare on higher-education campuses. There are approximately two dozen wind programs currently operating throughout the nation, according to MTI officials.

MTI plans to begin offering the program in fall 2009. The wind-turbine training would mesh with MTI’s related focus on electrical construction and maintenance, power line construction and maintenance and industrial-control engineering technology.

“This is kind of a natural addition to what we already do,” Von Wald said. “We’ve had a number of industry companies approach us for support.”

The jobs are expected to pay a starting salary of $35,000 to $40,000, with a mid-level salary for experienced workers of approximately $57,000. A two-worker maintenance and operation team is needed for roughly every 10 wind turbines operating.

Major wind farms are under construction or are in the permitting and planning stages in eastern, central, south-central and northern South Dakota.

“Other states may have started down this path earlier, but wind energy development is coming here quickly,” said Von Wald.

Von Wald said MTI also will be partnering with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Sinte Gleska Tribal College on the wind program. The tribe is developing wind energy projects. Some courses will be accessed via distance learning technology; and some courses may require attendance at MTI classes on the Mitchell campus

“Obviously, anything dealing with energy is something we’re seriously interested in and looking at,” deputy Labor secretary Marcia Hultman said.

A goal of the U.S. Department of Energy calls for 20 percent of electricity to be produced from wind by 2030.

Lake Area Technical Institute also offers broader programs in energy technology, but MTI’s Von Wald said there wouldn’t be duplication. He said MTI’s curriculum was developed using existing programs as models and by getting input from industry experts.