By SUE RYAN
News staff writer
October 19, 2007

The rise in wind power energy means the industry needs more trained technicians to service the machinery.

Columbia Gorge Community College, the first college on the West Coast to train people in renewable energy, began its pilot program last year. Of the 24 graduates, 22 now work in the wind energy field.

This year the college absorbed 34 students into its programs but has found the demand is rising faster than is the supply.

“Thirty-four is a stretch because of the size of our lab facilities and classrooms. Right now, we are hearing estimates upward of 500 technicians companies want per year to meet the needs in the Mid-Columbia region,” said Dr. Susan Wolff, chief academic officer for Columbia Gorge Community College.

“If we only graduate 30 students per year, we will never meet this need. We want to move to more of a business model instead of academic so we can graduate students twice a year. We have companies coming out all the time wanting to hire the students right now.”

So the college began approaching wind energy companies. PPM Energy stepped up first with $150,000 to be paid into the program during a three-year period.

The money will be used mainly to hire more teachers. Wolff said that because current classrooms are maxed out that the college intends to start a second program that will run on evenings and weekends, “because there are a lot of people that need to keep their day jobs while they go to school,” she said.

She expects that program to be developed by April 2009.

This isn’t the first involvement PPM has had with the college. The utility also helped in developing the curriculum for the program. Wolff said it made sense because the program applies directly to the needs of the field.

“I think it helped because the industry told us what the graduates needed to have and we checked back as we developed the curriculum to make sure we got the level, breadth and depth needed.”

PPM Energy provides training for students at the Klondike Training Center near Wasco. The company has also given money to Iowa Lakes College’s Estherville campus, which was dedicated this week.

“With PPM’s aggressive growth plans — and each new wind farm needing skilled, safety-conscious workers — strong training programs are essential to meeting our future staffing needs,” said Kevin Devlin, the company’s vice president of wind operations.

PPM Energy is the second-largest provider of wind power in the nation. They are owned by IBERDROLA, a Spain-based corporation that began operating in the United States in 2006.