Wind energy students get massive learning tool

DANVILLE – Every college lab needs equipment for hands-on learning, but the wind energy program at Danville Area Community College has a much "taller" order to fill than most classrooms.

On Tuesday, a 145-foot wind turbine blade weighing 17,000 pounds was delivered to the DACC campus by a semitrailer truck stretching 173 feet in length.

With the help of employees and a crane from White Construction, a Clinton, Ind.-based wind turbine builder, the blade was mounted next to the college's technology building on concrete slabs pre-constructed by students in the DACC wind energy program.

The refurbished blade, which is big enough at one end for a person to walk inside, was donated by a Chicago-based wind turbine manufacturing company, Suzlon, and will provide the 26 students in DACC's new wind energy program plenty of opportunities for hands-on learning.

Program instructor Jeremiah Dye, who has worked as a wind turbine technician, said it's great for his students to actually see a piece of the turbine and get hands-on experience with it. He said it also puts the job into perspective. The blade is just one small portion of the turbine, he said, so the students get an understanding of the enormous size of the components and equipment.

"It's an exciting thing," said Bruce Rape, dean of business and technology at DACC. "It's fun to get some real live stuff, actual equipment for kids to work on in the program."

The college launched its Wind Energy Technician associate degree program in August, and Dave Kietzmann, vice president of instruction and student services, said it's going well.

"We're excited about this program, and we think it will offer some great employment opportunities locally as the four wind farms that are projected to start up in Vermilion County come online over the next three years," Kietzmann said.

He said Dye has been spending quite a bit of time building links with wind turbine employers and vendors, and it was through those connections that this donation was made possible. Dye said White Construction, which has representation on the program's advisory board, helped him make the contact with Suzlon.

Kietzmann said the college is also working with the Illinois Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to secure the funding to build a training tower that can be used in the course. He said it would be an 80-foot tower, about one-third the height of an actual wind turbine tower. It would not be a live turbine, he said, but would be used for fitness and climbing tests and safety training for the students.

Dye said in the meantime, students have small-scale climbing equipment in the technology center at DACC that allows them to learn how to use a harness and other skills associated with climbing the towers.

Dye also is working with owners of area wind turbine farms to arrange for his students to get some climbing experience in November at an actual wind turbine farm.

He said this first group of students got some great hands-on experience Tuesday when the blade was put in place using the same methods and equipment that are used to handle wind turbine components in the field.

"It was really good for them," White said.

Rape said DACC's program is in demand. The college planned for an initial group of 24 students this fall semester but accepted 27, because the college had that many good applicants. And Rape anticipates launching a second group of 24 students in January. He said the long-term goal is 75 students in the pipeline at one time.

In the two-year program, students take classes, like electronics and programmable controllers, that already are offered through the college's industrial maintenance program. Students also take six specialty courses, including computer and digital electronics, and four specialty wind energy classes developed by an advisory committee of industry experts. Dye said hands-on experience with the blade will be incorporated into many of the classes.

Rape said when any college technology program is started from scratch, there's always the challenge of securing equipment for hands-on training.

"If nothing else, the blade will give these students the scale of this project. They don't look that big from a distance until one shows up in your backyard."

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