How to Become a Wind Turbine Service Technician
The development of taller towers with larger blades has reduced the cost of wind power generation, making it more competitive with coal, natural gas, and other forms of power generation. In fact, Scientific American recently reported that 60 percent of all utility-scale generation capacity additions for 2016 were from wind and solar resources. This innovative field is part of advanced manufacturing, an area included in mechatronics.
In North Carolina, workers are nearing completion of the first commercial-scale wind project in the southeastern United States. Sitting on about 22,000 acres near Elizabeth City, 104 wind turbines will soon produce an estimated 208 megawatts, enough to power 60,000 homes per year – all with a zero carbon footprint. As more and more sites like this go on line, technicians will be needed to keep each of the massive turbines operating at optimum levels. As you might expect, these are highly-skilled positions that require education centered on such things as:
- Electrical maintenance
- Hydraulic maintenance
- Braking systems
- Mechanical systems, including blade inspection and maintenance
- Computers and programmable logic control systems
Once on the job, wind turbine technicians typically:
- Inspect the exterior and physical integrity of towers
- Test and troubleshoot electrical, mechanical, and hydraulic components and systems
- Perform routine maintenance
- Replace worn or malfunctioning components
- Service underground transmission systems, wind field substations, or fiber optic sensing and control systems
- Collect turbine data for testing or research and analysis
If this sounds like a future you might want to consider, ECPI University offers a degree program that can prepare you to do this kind of work. Our Mechatronics program combines the three elements central to wind turbine production – electronics, mechanical engineering technology, and computer and information science. Your studies will focus on core areas such as:
- Programmable Controllers
- Hydraulics and Pneumatics
- Applied Mechanics
- Testing and Measuring Instruments
- Computer Hardware and Software
- Analog/Digital Electronics and Communications
- Automation and Control Systems
- Computer Programming Networks
- Microcontrollers
- Materials Science
Here’s the best part – you don’t have to spend four or even two years in college. Through ECPI University’s year-round, accelerated schedule, you can earn your Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics Engineering Technology with a concentration in Mechatronics in as little as 2.5 years, or an Associate degree in as little as 1.5 years!
ECPI University’s Mechatronics program is available at campuses throughout Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and online. Want to learn more? The answers to your questions are just a click of the mouse or phone call away. Take a moment and connect with a helpful admissions advisor today.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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For more information about ECPI University or any of our programs click here: http://www.ecpi.edu/ or http://ow.ly/Ca1ya.