Wind Power for Los Angeles Electricians

OMAHA (KPTM) - There aren't many in Nebraska, but they're hard to miss all over western Iowa: wind turbines dotting the landscape.

Its clean energy leaders say is on its way to Nebraska, and now there's a new training facility to meet future demand.

It means fifty-five foot climbs for local electricians training inside a wind tower, as well as jumps on a safety harness and lots of practice with gear at increasingly high altitudes. "The specialized work that we do as electricians is now compounded by the fact that it's remote and highly elevated," said program instructor Foster Weyand.

Soon a state of the art training facility near 90th and L Street will prepare electricians for jobs building and maintaining wind turbines used for renewable energy. "The opportunity that they'll spend here in the classroom, in the labs, in the training tower with the highlight on safety, so when they get out to the job site, they're productive on day one," said Gary Kelley, business manager of the Local 22 IBEW.

Union leaders say the facility, only the second of its kind nationwide, will help ensure local jobs in wind energy go to Nebraskans, rather than traveling workers. "I don't want us to forget that this is about our economic security and our energy security," said Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman.

Gov. Heineman says Nebraska has enormous potential in wind power, its just suffered because the state has a unique system of publicly owned power utilities, which until two years ago, couldn't tap federal incentives to build wind farms like private companies. "Now that we have that in place, we're moving forward and you're going to see them in Nebraska all across our lands over the next 4-5 years," Heineman said.

A future many local electricians will be ready for. The first class starts next week with 10 students, but eventually leaders expect hundreds of people to take advantage of the program.

The facility is a joint project between the Nebraska chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association and four locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. $100,000 from the Nebraska Worker Training Board also helped make the project possible.

Only certified electricians can go through the program and get a certificate to work on wind energy projects.