Wind turbine maintenance course | ‘You kind of get that ‘sitting on a boat’ feeling’
Wind turbines on farmland can be a lucrative “crop.”
Payments of $15,000 per year per turbine are paid to landowners, depending on the company and the region.
Southern Alberta is home to 600 individual wind turbines with another 40 multi-turbine projects in various stages of development.
One of those, the Wild Steer Butte Wind Farm proposed by Shell near Bow Island, Alta., would almost double the current wind generation capacity of 850 megawatts.
As wind power generation grows, so will the need for turbine maintenance. That’s where Lethbridge College’s Wind Technician Turbine Training course enters the picture.
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“It has been extremely successful,” wind energy community liaison Kris Hodgson said about the seven-month course that has been running since 2005.
“There’s been waiting lists at times for people to get on the course, because really, you can provide operation maintenance to the ones here in southern Alberta, but you can also work anywhere in the world.”
The program graduates 45 students per year, 15 students at a time. One of those was Patrick Casey, a former Lumsden, Sask., resident who now lives in Kelowna, B.C.
He had applied with several wind power generation companies by the end of December and was confident of getting a job. Employment prospects and the renewable energy aspects were attractions for the former mine and oil patch worker.
“I’ve always kind of been a hippie at heart,” he said.
“I had an idea that wind turbines were going to be a big thing and I just decided to get away from the coal and the gas and go for wind generation. I think it’s going to be pretty big in the future.”
Jeff Chamberland, another recent graduate, worked with a wind energy company while taking the course. As a journeyman electrician, he has other skills useful to turbine maintenance.
“The course is really good, very thorough. It was as long as it needed to be and they definitely touched on enough subjects. They really set you up to be well rounded to begin your trade.”
The bulk of wind turbine maintenance work occurs 80 metres in the air. It’s not a good career choice for anyone nervous about heights.
“Right away when they come into the program, we take them up,” said Hodgson.
“We have that 25 metre training tower. We take them up there to see if their legs are wobbly or not.”
The wobblers are diverted to electrical, mechanical and hydraulics courses, while the others enter a program that includes extensive safety training for working at heights, instruction on the intricacies of turbine operation, oil changes, repairs after lightning strikes and basic cleaning.
Chamberland said turbines sway in the wind but he didn’t get weak in the knees.
“My very first time standing on top of a turbine was great. I felt very comfortable,” he said.
“Sometimes it rocks back and forth. You kind of get that ‘sitting on a boat’ feeling.”
For Casey, height is part of the appeal.
“I’m young and that’s what I’m hoping to do, is climb towers and work at heights and stuff. It kind of makes me feel good.”
Of course, there’s only one way to the top of a wind turbine: stairs.
Just getting to work can be a workout, but fortunately there are landings every so often so climbers can rest.
For those interested in smaller wind projects, the college is offering a course in solar and small wind installation. A second new course in wind park construction is also available.
