Amarillo College Ranger

Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Front Page

Media Credit: Davidson Finke In the next five years, the Panhandle will have 3,000 wind turbines, according to an AC source.

Amarillo College's wind program has been getting attention from various news media around the Texas Panhandle.

AC was approved for $440,000 from the Amarillo Economic Development Corp. to start a wind program for students.

According to the Web site, www.myhighplains.com, Amarillo College's wind program will be one of three in the state offered by a community college. It will offer the only renewable energy degree in Texas.

An AC source said, "Within five years, the Panhandle will be home to nearly 3,000 wind turbines."

So far, there are roughly 300 wind turbines in the Texas Panhandle and eight wind farms ranging from the Panhandle to New Mexico.

Wind technicians

According to the Amarillo College Web site, AC plans to train wind technicians starting next year. The program is funded mainly through state and federal grants.

News Channel 10 reports that the grants are many months away, and that is why the AEDC gave AC the $440,000. The money is meant for facility funding, program equipment, training and program operation.

Dr. Paul Matney, acting AC president, said, "The school will seek other grants but needs startup money now to begin work."

Jack Stanley, chairman of the sciences and engineering department, told AC regents he has received about 70 inquiries from potential students since the board approved the wind-energy curriculum last month, according to the Amarillo Globe-News at www.amarillo.com.

Stanley estimated that 3,000 to 5,000 wind turbines could be constructed in the Panhandle in the coming years. AC work force development officials estimate the industry will need 500 to 750 technicians by 2012 to build and maintain hundreds of wind turbines expected to spring up on the High Plains.

An entry-level wind technician can earn $35,000 to $45,000 a year, AC officials said, and wind energy classes could start in the spring.

Wind Programs in Texas

AC is not the only school in Texas to get funding for wind programs.

According to www.highbeam.com, in 2007 the Texas State Energy Conservation Office awarded West Texas A&M University's Alternative Energy Institute $40,000 to add equipment and expand its wind-monitoring program. The AEI loaned the equipment to landowners to use on their property for up to two years.

Texas Tech University received a $1 million Workforce Investment Act Statewide Activity Fund grant from the Texas Workforce Commission to support the creation of the Texas Wind Energy Institute, according to the Web site, http://today.ttu.edu.

Clarendon College offers an associate of applied science degree in wind energy, according to the Web site, http://www.clarendoncollege.edu.

"Remember the big oil boom? This is going to be bigger, in my opinion," Stanley said. "We've got to be ahead of the curve, not behind it."

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