Bullish on wind power? You bet, conference goers say
Why should Oklahoma be bullish on wind power?
Well, for starters, Oklahoma has the potential of generating 300,000 megawatts using wind. If only 10 percent of that is developed — 30,000 megawatts — that’s still nearly twice as much power as is what is generated in
“That’s huge,” he said.
What else is huge is the potential for economic development it brings.
Officials estimate wind development within
Natalie Shirley,
The state’s mission, she told conference goers, is to make the potential environment for that economic development as friendly as possible.
An assembled panel discussed the topic during a session this week.
Weatherford Mayor Mike Brown talked about the benefits of having wind energy in his community.
The development there, Weatherford’s Wind Energy Center, has created about 15 permanent jobs. That means 15 additional families living within the community, he noted.
While the wind development was being built, another 150 workers were temporary residents of the community.
FPL Energy, the company that built the center, also has contributed $1.5 million toward the community’s schools and city to help them improve services to the city’s residents, he added.
And that doesn’t include the royalties landowners are getting for having operating turbines on their land.
“It certainly has been positive for our community,” Brown said.
Industry needs
Jesse Langston, vice president of commercial and utility operations for Oklahoma Gas and Electric and Kevin Ishmael, a general manager for DMI Industries in Oklahoma, talked about the kinds of workers they need to grow the wind energy industry here.
“We have a tremendous workforce in
Langston, meanwhile, said OG&E has a long history of working with Oklahoma’s education system to develop the workers its need.
“We are going to need skilled workers like everyone else,” he said.
Phil Berkenbile, director of Oklahoma’s CareerTech System and Delores Jackson, the director of corporate learning at Oklahoma City Community College, talked about meeting the industry’s needs.
Berkenbile said the goal for the state’s CareerTech System is to create a few, quality programs to turn out workers that not only can build the wind turbine towers, but also maintain them into the future.
“It is a fast ramp up. But is also is something we believe we need to stay with. Now that fuel prices have fallen, this is not something we want to put on the shelf — again,” he said.
Jackson said Oklahoma City
The school also works with its industry partners to find out what they need in workers, both today and in five years.
“When you look at skills needed for wind turbin technicians, the basics are electricity and electronics,” she said. “So, we were able to realign curriculum that we already had available and apply it to this particular industry.”
Secretary Shirley, meanwhile, said state officials will continue to work hard to develop the wind industry within Oklahoma.
“The wind industry shows significant promise for job creation, and most importantly, to me, the creation of quality jobs with salaries 15 percent or more above the state’s annual, average wage,” Shirley said.
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