CC Wind Energy Program

Climbing 262 feet into the air isn’t something many people want to do, but some Clarendon College students have tried it and hope to make a career of it.

Now in its second year, Wind Energy is becoming a popular vocational program at CC, and it would be hard to find students more enthusiastic about their course of study than those who recently climbed a wind turbine in Sweetwater.

“You’ll know when you go up there if that’s what you want to do,” said student Larry Lawley of Pampa. “I’ll do it for 40 or 50 years, and they will have to force me to retire.”
Noberto Alonzo, also of Pampa, had never been on to a wind farm before traveling to Sweetwater as part of the Special Topics in Wind class.

“It was amazing,” Alonzo said. “It makes you feel good about what you’re doing.”
The students first attended a job hazard assessment meeting and went through all the safety precautions before getting inside the tower and climbing 30 feet to a hatch that allows access further up. From there they climbed two sets of 70-foot ladders straight up to reach the “saddle room” which leads to the nacelle on top of the tower.

“I wasn’t prepared for how big that area was,” said Dan Fish of Alanreed. “You can have six or seven people in there plus all the gears, the brakes, the turbine, and more.”

At that point technicians check the wind speed outside. A consistent speed of 12 meters per second prohibits a man from getting outside. On that day, the speed was close but acceptable, so out they climbed on to the top of a giant wind turbine.

“It was breathtaking,” Fish said. “You feel like you’re on top of the world.”

Gary Kuhl, who teaches AC/DC circuitry for the wind energy program, said about half the potential students at Sweetwater’s Texas State Technical College get eliminated because they can’t make the climb, which is a requirement for admission there.  At Clarendon, climbing is a voluntary class since CC doesn’t own a tower.

The students’ climb took between an hour and an hour and a half because of the size of the group. But they say in a real world setting, the climb would only take about 20 minutes.

Workers are harnessed during the duration of the climb, and there must be a minimum of two people to make a climb and an additional person must be on the ground.

Once on top of the tower, an instructor showed the students how they could work on the equipment and even how to communicate with the manufacturers of the equipment in Germany.

“One of the things they emphasized was: “Downtime is money,” said student Terrance Fike of McLean. “That turbine was generating two megawatts of power, and they had to shut it down so we could climb.”

All the students agreed that they are looking forward to the next time they get to climb and are excited about the prospects of working on wind towers for a living.

CC now has 96 wind energy majors, according to Dean of Instruction, Dr. Debra Kuhl. The college offers a one-year certificate program and a two-year degree program with classes being held in Clarendon, Pampa, and Childress. Six students are expected to be the first to graduate from the program this year with associate’s degrees.

Donny Cagle, who holds a master’s degree from West Texas A&M University, is an instructor and the program coordinator. The college is currently seeking two additional wind instructors and is looking for grants and donations to help purchase equipment for the program.

For more information about the Wind Energy Program, contact Clarendon College at 874-3571 or visit the college website at www.clarendoncollege.edu.