EnergyBiz - September/October 2007 - (Page 11) of the University of Cincinnati’s Electric and Computer Engineering Technology department. Every student will have a 10-week co-op experience working at a power plant generation station such as three Duke legacy plants or an AEP peaking station in Lawrenceburg, Ind. Though the program began last year, it expects to graduate 10 to 15 graduates in 2008 and have 50 students enrolled by the end of 2008. “Co-op programs create a link with textbook learning and help students know what to expect on the job. Seeing is believing,” Robichaud says. Not only do students gain but so does Duke Energy. “Younger students are more computer literate and can help with emission control requirements. Normal power plant workers who graduated years ago don’t possess these computer skills,” Robichaud says. How marketable are students graduating from this program? “First Energy and AEP are aggressively hiring Applied Science graduates as plant operators in maintenance union positions,” says Raymond Miller, an adjunct lecturer in the program. First-year power plant operators start at around $20 an hour but can earn $65,000 and up the second year with overtime and pay increases, depending on each individual’s abilities, he says. In 2001, Gulf Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, joined with the West Florida High School of Advanced Technology in Pensacola, Fla. to create a tech preparatory program for high school students, explains Jennifer Grove, Gulf Power’s workforce development coordinator. “We wanted to ensure that students had a solid understanding of construction math, algebra, and could read charts and graphs,” she says. Graduating students can handle a variety of incoming jobs such as apprentice line technicians, welder mechanics, electricians and plant operators. But the program also prepares students to go on to four-year degrees and major in engineering, another major need for utilities. Starting in a student’s junior year, every participant in the program, which usually has 20–25 students in the sophomore, junior and senior years, is mentored monthly by a Gulf Power employee who stays with them until graduation. Mentors can be plant managers, engineers, or line operators. “In mentoring, staff can take their 30 years of direct knowledge and transfer it to a student,” Grove notes. In their senior years, students spend 20 hours a week at a Gulf Power internship, learning the jobs of lineman, engineer, plant coordinator and customer service. Because Gulf Power can observe students at work and evaluate them, it makes it easier to hire them. Since the program’s inception, Gulf Power has hired 19 of the program’s graduates. Grove says that 50 percent of its graduates move on to industry and construction-related careers, 25 percent to community colleges and 25 percent to four-year universities. Graduates receive 15 hours of college credit when attending Pensacola Junior College’s electronics and engineering technology program and the University of West Florida’s electrical engineering program. Why is it so critical to reach students at a high school age? “That’s when students make career choices, choose curriculum and the direction they want to go,” says EEI’s Miller. Washington State has been in the vanguard of meeting the employment needs of its utilities by creating the Center of Excellence for Energy Technology at Centralia College in Centralia, Wash. The center serves as a resource for utilities’ workforce development programs and coordinates programs at six Washington community colleges that train workers for utility industry jobs. In addition, it offers in-hour training to staff at Seattle City Light and Puget Sound Energy to upgrade entry-level workers in electricity and math skills, explains Barbara Hins-Turner, executive director of the Center of Excellence for Energy Technology and a former Portland General executive. Industry executives serve on the Center’s advisory board and help design curriculum based on utilities’ needs and set skill standards for power generation jobs. Last year, 20 students graduated from Centralia College’s power technology program and 14 from Clark Community College and all of them have been placed. Many are working at $18 to $22 an hour starting jobs as linemen at utilities or substation operators for Bonneville Power Association and Puget Sound Energy. By the time they reach journeyman, they’ll earn $30 to $35 an hour. “The center has become a recruiting site. Utilities come to us as a point of contact for job openings or beginning apprenticeship programs. No one college or utility has all the answers. It’s about the partnership between industry and labor,” says Hins-Turner. Jennifer Naugle, left, a student with Gulf Power Academy, practices welding with Christine Farmer, a welder-mechanic at Gulf Power. photo courtEsy of gulf powEr. www.energycentral.com E n E rgyB i z 11 http://www.energycentral.com
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