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The Iowa Alliance for Wind Innovation and Novel Development (IA WIND) has awarded North Iowa Area Community College a grant in the amount of $54,995 for the College’s IA Wind project.  IA WIND was impressed with the proposal and looks forward to the educational benefit it will have on wind energy education in the State of Iowa.

“We are thrilled that the Iowa Alliance for Wind Innovation and Novel Development supports our effort to provide needed training in the wind industry, a growing field in not only North Iowa but across the State of Iowa as well,” Dr. Deb Derr, NIACC president, said.

NIACC’s project will secure training equipment to educate NIACC wind students and to expand the College’s training capabilities for industry.  These efforts will aid in providing training needed in areas of electrical systems, PLC’s, microprocessors, shaft alignment and fiber optics.

“This grant will allow us to get some of the most current and state-of-the-art equipment in the field to use in teaching our students and employees in the wind energy field critical skills,” Josh Byrnes, NIACC industrial division chairperson, said.

In the fall of 2008, NIACC created a one-year wind turbine diploma program which was created by utilizing existing curriculum in the Electromechanical Systems Technology (EMST) program.  In addition to the EMST coursework, a course specifically on wind energy was created.  In addition to the diploma program, NIACC has played a continuing education and training role in the wind industry; for example, NIACC does all the fluid power training for NextERA wind turbine technicians across the nation.

For more information on NIACC’s program, visit www.niacc.edu/industrial/eltron.html.

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