ENERGY TECHNOLOGYTHE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE WINTER 2010 Vol. 2 No 2

We have a new decade in front of us. That sounds like a good time to look back at our programs and

unprecedented success they have found all across the country. This also seems a good point at which to stop and recognize the partners that have helped build one of the most useful and best-designed energy training programs in the nation.

If we look back just five years we discover our original intent was to develop training that would allow the energy industry to replace a cadre of retir-ing employees, mostly baby-boomers on the verge of retirement. We discovered that neither academic nor individual employee training programs were equal to the task of getting as many as 50,000 skilled workers ready to pick up the gauntlet––and do it in 10 years or less.

At that moment, the COE partnered with four energy programs in the state’s community and tech-nical college system plus Avista’s line program that already had joined forces with Spokane Community College. Each of the academic/training partners focused on a small part of the training needed to step into a veteran energy tech’s shoes. We weren’t ready to produce that many skilled workers on short notice.

By the end of 2009, however, we are pleased to observe 19 community colleges at work. Most are delivering energy programs with special subsectors that focus on energy management, renewable energy production, and energy efficiency workforce training.

By Barbara Hins-Turner Executive Director of the Center of Excellence for Energy Technology at Centralia College

This robust start is still far short of that needed to meet the country’s pending energy technology needs, but we believe we can––with a partnership that now includes much of the industry leadership––fulfill regional requirements.

Just as important, the private and public power ad-ministrators, organized labor in the field, with govern-ment and academic support, are making our discover-ies and best practices available to other regions facing the same threat of skilled worker shortages.

In this newsletter we’ve chosen to include mes-sages regarding our ground breaking skill standards effort for both conventional power and wind power technology. Note that they were written by industry and labor leaders, factions that cooperated smoothly in these accomplishments.

We consider that one of the biggest breakthroughs for the Center of Excellence.

Among the innovative energy programs are the Walla Walla Wind Technician, Columbia Basin Nuclear Technology, Edmonds Energy Management, South Seattle Energy Efficiency, and Centralia Multi-occupational Degree Program, the latter al-lowing up to 60 credits for apprenticeship training may be accepted for degree completion.

Without the superb contributions by the COE advisory board, little of this could have been ac-complished. They have given freely of their time and resources to provide the imperative industry and labor voice in our proceedings.

Last summer’s Energy and Construction Best Practices Summit at Satsop offered attendees more than a vision of the energy industry’s future. It offered a source of inspiration and an object lesson as well.

The opening ceremony took place in the cooling tower at the never-powered nuclear plant. In an historic first, the line crew that raised the United States flag was made up entirely of women.

“During the opening speech, they climbed silently and stood at at-tention,” reported Alice Lockridge, a Seattle City Light apprenticeship training and education coordinator who helped organize the event. “Bob Guenther, the IBEW representative, handed the flag to the most experienced climber and it passed from there to the top of the pole,” Lockridge continued. “It was hung on a cross arm at the top.”

The crew consisted of four climbers from Seattle City Light and

four others plus an apprentice and a graduate, all representing PGE, Bonneville Power, Eugene Water and Electric Board, Tacoma Power, and Avista Line School.

The flag had been flown over the U.S. Capitol in Washington and was donated to the COE by Washington Senator Patty Murray. The flag was included in the fundraising scholarship auction at the Summit, and the winning bidder graciously donated it back to the female line crew.

In the few moments that surrounded this ceremony, the climb-ers had demonstrated a new philosophy of equality and fairness as well as a new era of cooperation between major power inter-ests everywhere.

Hold the date for the 2010 Best Practices Summit, June 24/25.

Partnerships seen as primary strategy to meet growing energy demands

Growing the Washington State Center Of Excellence For Energy Technology

CENTRALIA COLLEGE

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CENTRALIA COLLEGE

Wind farms are generating a greater part of our

renewable energy total every month. PSE wind power projects alone now generate enough

reliable energy for more than 350,000 homes.

Other producers continue construction and operation

of the huge wind turbine sites to meet future needs.

Study calls for stronger coordination among energy, education providersResearch guides the direction of our workforce development efforts by ensuring we are developing and delivering programs that meet the workforce needs of the clean energy industry. As a result, our partners sponsored two energy workforce research reports, both of which were authored by Dr. Alan Hardcastle and researchers at WSU’s Extension Energy Program and funded by WIRED.

“Renewable Energy Industry Trends and Workforce Development in Washington State” examined trends in a range of renewable sectors and interviewed employers and other experts in so-lar, wind, bio-energy, small hydropower, and hydro efficiency upgrades. State policies driving renew-able growth, concerns about impending retirements, workforce shortages, and lack of education and training capacity to support continued growth were among the key findings.

That study concluded with a call for a strategic approach and stronger statewide coordination among renewable sectors and the education/train-ing providers.

The second report, “Energy Efficiency Industry Trends and Workforce Development in Washington State––Phase I” describes regional and state growth in the energy efficiency sector. The report also integrates research showing that national, regional, and state policies and investments support-ing energy conservation are also driving employ-ment projections that suggest that the workforce will need to expand rapidly to meet growing demand for energy efficiency products and services.

The report notes that sustaining growth in Washington’s large energy efficiency sector will require attracting, preparing, and supporting new employees and incumbent workers through stan-dards-based education and training programs that impart the skills required by the industry.

Our education and training initiatives will equip employees for future career development in this fast-growing sector.

You may read these reports by logging onto the Internet link at www.energy.wsu.edu/apps/Workforce.aspx.

Wind technician focus group at Energy Northwest Nine Canyon wind farm:

Left to right: Kris Finkbeiner, Energy Northwest, Nine Canyon; Tim Clever,

White Creek; Matt Taylor, Energy Northwest, Nine Canyon; Chad Rupert, PSE, Wild Horse; Ryan Severe, PSE,

Hopkins Ridge; and Todd Brogna, Enxco.

Focus group participants included front-line workers, first-line supervisors, and subject matter experts in the wind energy sector within the Pacific Northwest region.

they met over a two-day period and determined the critical work functions and key activities performed by wind turbine technicians. Their insights were an invaluable contribution to this work.

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SKILL STANDARDSIndustry Perspectiveby Troy Nutter

Manager, Training and Procedures, PSE; Chair, WIRED Executive Leadership Council; Vice-chair, RTEC, Satsop

by Bob Guenther

President, Thurston/Lewis/Mason Central Labor Council; vice-president, 3rd District Washington State Labor Council AFL/CIO; Chair, RETC, Satsop; IBEW Lobbyist

Further, history has shown that industrial accidents tend to decline substantially through good workforce training. Skill standards provide the foundation for providing a safe and skilled workforce for Washington State, the region, and our nation as a whole.

The skill standards were developed by experienced members of the industry work-ing together to achieve not just consensus but unflinching support of the standards by the broadest cross-section of partners from the power industry in the Northwest. Most industry observers have hailed the new standards publication and expect it to be adopted by many utility interests across the nation.

We are proud of organized labor’s participation in the prolonged process required to bring such an important concept and the guideline document to life.

SKILL STANDARDSLabor Message

Skill Standards permit predic-tive thinking on future industrial needs. Establishment of skill standards offers continuous im-provement for current business

needs and at the same time provides opportunities for workers to bring skills to the workplace that ensure quality training to make business profitable.

The attainment of the goals of skill standards also provides an opportunity for labor to negoti-ate in good faith the wages that worker expertise has earned.

The mix of energy resources has steadily changed over the past decade and has increased in tempo because of Renewable Energy Portfolio requirements. Thermal assets, meanwhile, have been identified as a major

component of supporting future wind power inte-gration in the Pacific Northwest.

Combustion Turbine (CT) and combined cycle technologies are moving forward as a cleaner alter-native on our way to zero-carbon energy resources.

Combined cycle CT plants are a complex maze of interrelated systems operating and relying upon one another for clean, environmentally compliant, efficient and reliable operation.

The role of the combustion turbine journey worker presents a requirement for a highly techni-cal combination of knowledge, skills, and abilities to reliably operate and maintain plants to meet the needs of industry, electrical rate payers, and customers.

Puget Sound Energy collaborated with the Center of Excellence for Energy Technology and the WSU Energy Extension program to objectively identify and quantify the required knowledge, skills, and abilities though development of an

occupational skill standard under the national Skill Panel Model.

PSE will use the information developed by the skill panels as we refine and improve our registered apprenticeship standards and tasks to accurate reflect the needs of the occupation.

Others can use these skill standards in the industry, academia, workforce development and job skills training to develop programs and pathways to careers in the CT world. The skill standards are critical to persons new to the field, incumbent workers seeking to improve skills, displaced workers as they transition to new occupations, as well as returning veterans seeking to crossover to civilian jobs yet use their valuable skills to their ongoing benefit.

From an industry perspective, the major accomplishment of developing skill stan-dards under this model is the collaboration of education, labor, industry, and government to produce the skill standards document.

These skill standards are an integral part of the Energy Competency Model and help create the strong foundation for workforce development in the energy industry as we move toward zero-carbon and independence from costly fossil fuels.

Using the Skill Standards in trainingThe COE Advisory Board recog-nized that the quality and consis-tency of the college and apprentice programs can be assured only if the foundation of the training pro-grams is based on industry-driven occupational skill standards.

To that end the Energy Skill Standards library was expanded by Dr. Alan Hardcastle and the WSU Extension Energy and COE’s work on the new Power Plant Electrician, Combustion Turbine Technician, and Wind Turbine standards.

The Combustion Turbine Technician Standards were funded by PSE with a $40,000 grant to develop and put them to work in the field. The Wind Turbine Technician was supported by WIRED, Energy Northwest, and Montana State University.

You can check out the Skill Standards library by accessing our energy skills standards Web page at <http://www.wa-skills.com/en-ergy.html>. That site also contains the standards WSU completed for BPA transmission occupations.

The Centers of Excellence for Energy and Construction will host the 5th Annual Best Practices Summit, June 24/25. Pictured

are Directors, Julia Cordero, Construction – Renton Technical College and Barbara Hins-Turner, Energy Technology – Centralia

College, at the 2009 Women in the Trades Fair.

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by Terry Meade

Project Manager, Nine Canyon Wind Project, Energy Northwest

The US wind energy industry growth over the last several years is staggering. Over 8,500 megawatts of new generating capacity was installed in 2008 alone, increasing the nation’s total wind power gen-erating capacity by 50-percent to over 25,300 MW.

At present there is about 1,500 MW of wind power capacity online in Washington State and this value increases nearly daily. Several new proj-

ects are in the development stage and some existing projects are expanding.Approximately 85,000 people are employed in the wind power industry today, up

from around 50,000 just a year ago. This phenomenal growth represents practical employment opportunities for new entry workers in the field.

The nature of the job is challenging and a good program is critical. Many of the local community colleges are in the process of establishing curricula to be able to provide the necessary training. The skill standards (developed by WSU, the Center of Excellence at Centralia College, and a partnership of industry and labor) are an im-portant first step in helping the educational sector provide the specific training needs of the industry.

Energy Northwest has chosen to be actively involved in the development of the skill sets and is looking forward to further contributing as a partner with the educa-tional sector to help these skill sets be used to develop quality training programs.

by Don Guillot

Business Manager, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 77

The International Brotherhood of Electrical workers is proud to endorse the work that has been done to accomplish a set of skill standards that will lead to better-prepared workers in the Wind Industry.

The participation of employers and workers in the development of these standards have given us a real-time snapshot of the need for better training in this very important and growing energy sector.

Our plan for the skill standards is to develop curricula and a Washington State Approved Apprenticeship program using them as a template.

We look forward to building strong partnerships with higher education and an outcome that will ben-efit our workers and their employers.

WIND POWER SKILL STANDARDSIndustry Message

WIND POWER SKILL STANDARDSLabor Message

RETC announces new Board of DirectorsWashington is fortunate to have strong energy industry skills training centers that provide hands-on training for the skilled trades. The COE continues to support these centers that now include the Regional Education and Training Center at Satsop. The new RETC board includes Bob Guenther, IBEW Local 77 as chair and Troy Nutter of PSE serving as vice chair.

RETC has hired Ryan Davis as executive director of the facility. Ryan will be on hand to ensure RETC serves the needs of the energy industry and economic development needs of the region.

Newly purchased programmable logic control equipment funded through WIRED will support the Grays Harbor College new Industrial Process Control System Technology program to be delivered at RETC <http://www.retc-satsop.org>.

Turbines like these may soon dot the coastal hills between

Raymond and Aberdeen, Washington, as site surveys

indicate fairly reliable wind data for that area. First studies and pre-construction planning for a small turbine farm is underway.

When the four Northwest governors wrote their appeal for positive action to Dr. Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy, they included ten action steps for addressing the region’s power needs and admin-istration of regional power resources.

The ten steps were developed by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Task Force (NEET). Centralia College Center of Excellence was named as Strategic Coordinating Body for Energy Efficiency Training in the region. The ten action items include; 1. Prepare an independent evaluation of the regional task force to determine how it can best effect

energy efficiency across the region. 2. Compare how NEEA data collection activities mesh with NEET report recommendations. 3. Create a plan for NEEA, BPA and other regional entities to coordinate emerging technology activities. 4. Create a forum within an existing regional entity to increase collaboration and help move forward

on new and expanded energy efficiency efforts. 5. Conduct secondary research on behavioral changes related to consumer energy efficiency. 6. Define energy efficiency jobs as distinct from other green-economy jobs, establish skill standards,

and identify job classifications. Create a regional clearinghouse for energy efficiency job openings. 7. Create a coordinating body to partner with energy efficiency entities; increase regional coordination

on training, education, and skill standards. 8. Review regional cost-effectiveness policies and create a guide to increase understanding of how

cost-effectiveness rules are applied. 9. Increase regional collaboration on programs that address smart grid, load management, distribution

efficiency and conservation voltage regulations. 10. Develop a voluntary decoupling pilot program for a public power utility.

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Summit 2010:Best Practices in SustainabilityJune 24 and 25 When the 5th annual Best Practices Summit convenes in June, it will again be sponsored by the Washington State Centers of Excellence for Energy and Construction. This year’s keynote address will be delivered by David Allen, executive vice-president of Seattle’s nationally recognized McKinstry. In President Obama’s 2008 message, he stated, “All across America I’ve seen entrepreneurs and innovators who point the way to a better future, starting with energy independence. “Recently, I visited the McKinstry Company in Seattle. They’re retrofit-ting schools and office buildings to make them energy efficient, creating jobs, saving their cus-tomers money, reducing carbon emissions, and helping to end our depen-dence on Middle Eastern oil. As President, I’ll use companies like McKinstry as a model for the nation.”“Our state and region can be proud that we have such national models as McKinstry, that demon-strate leadership to ensure we are creating a sustain-able workforce that will be competitive in the 21st Century global economy,” said Barbara Hins-Turner, COE executive director. Please join us for the annual Crab Feed, Wine Festival and Scholarship auction to celebrate five years of delivering Best Practices messages from our valued partners.

NEET Task Forcerecommends ten action steps to DOE

COE Director Barbara Hins-Turner served on the 2009 Task Force on America’s Future Energy Jobs, convened by the National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP).

The Task Force, chaired by retired Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM), brought together representatives from labor, industry, and educational sectors to explore the existing demographic makeup and anticipated workforce needs of the electric power sector, along with the training institutions and programs that support this sector.

The Task Force examined the ability of the current worker training and education system in the U.S. to provide a workforce with the ability to maintain a reliable, economically affordable electric power system while modernizing the nation’s electric generating infrastructure to support an advanced, low-carbon energy portfolio <bipartisanpolicy.org/library/report/task-force-americas-future-energy-jobs>.

Barbara Hins-Turner represented education on a NCEP sub-committee that met with Vice President Biden’s White House Middle Class Task Force to explore national energy workforce challenges and green jobs initiatives.

The Center of Excellence for Energy Technology at Centralia College is noted in the final NCEP report as a model for replication in other regions of the country and is the only community college program in the nation cited.

That work evolved into an invitation to present to the U.S.-Canada Clean Energy Forum in Toronto. Hins-Turner pre-sented on the integration of workforce needs into workforce education programs.

Hins-Turner’s NCEP Task Force work puts COE on national map

CENTRALIA COLLEGE COMPLIES WITH EEOC GUIDELINES

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Northwest governors support COE initiativeThe governors of the four Northwest states have joined forces to urge the U.S. Department of Energy to support two grants to improve energy production processes. The four were C.L. “Butch” Otter of Idaho, Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, Christine Gregoire of Washington, and Brian Schweitzer of Montana.

The four governors sent a joint letter to Dr. Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, urging the approval of companion applications for the es-tablishment of a new regional energy collaboration called the Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean Energy (NCECE). The consortium would create a community college partnership led by the Center of Excellence to deliver clean energy skilled workforce training in partner-ship with Chemeketa Community College, College of Southern Idaho, Montana College of Technology, and others. Additionally, the plan calls for Portland State University to convene Washington State University, Montana State University, and the University of Idaho to develop graduate level Smart Grid education across the four-state region.

The COE partnership with industry and labor would be further supported to develop, test, and deliver a coordinated approach to clean energy workforce development in the four partner states.

The focus of the training will address the integration of smart grid into the incumbent workforce on both the supply and demand sides of the energy sector as well as the transition of workers to new technologies as legacy job functions become obsolete.

The governors concluded that research from the Northwest Energy Efficiency Task Force (NEET) has documented a severe shortage in skilled workforce as we attempt to fill the pipe-line for energy efficiency and other clean energy jobs in the region. The NEET deliberations resulted in a list of 10 actions the DOE grants could bring to fruition.

The governors offered their endorsement and recommended Dr. Chu give the DOE grant request his positive consideration. Visit the NEET action steps: http://www.nwcouncil.org/energy/neet/Default.asp

Washington StateCENTER OF EXCELLENCE

FOR ENERGY TECHNOLOGYCENTRALIA COLLEGE

600 Centralia College Blvd • Centralia, WA 98531(360) 736-9391, ext. 280 • From Olympia, 753-3433

www.centralia.edu/coe/

New Resource Guide features community college Energy

Programs: <http://www.centralia.edu/coe/programs.html>