Life as a Wind Turbine Technician [VIDEOS]

January 19th, 2011 by Zachary Shahan

Following up on the base jumping from wind turbines video I shared yesterday, here’s a video on working as a wind turbine technician for wind energy giant Vestas (or working as a wind turbine technician, in general). Maybe a little PR behind it, but looks like a nice job (definitely better than working as a coal miner or at a coal power plant).

With a fast-growing wind industry, there is a bit of a shortage of wind turbine technicians, but community colleges are beginning to pick up the slack.

Fore some more detail, here’s another video of some wind turbine technicians’ first climb at a community college in Iowa.

And from this last video (below), A Day-in-the-Life of Wind Turbine Service Technician, a comment on the great service being a wind turbine technician entails;

“Besides being able to take care of my family, I’m also being able to take care of the community and the nation at large just by doing my daily work activities.”

h/t Climate Denial Crock of the Week

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Tags: clean energy jobs, Wind Energy Jobs, wind power jobs, wind turbine base jumping, wind turbine technician, wind turbine technicians

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

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L.Leaf

Hello, i was wondering if there was any way to get into contact with Jeremiah Dye, for example email? id like to ask him advice about schools for becoming a Wind Turbine Technician? Thanks
Anonymous

I remember a comment a few months back in which a college administrator was complaining that many of their students were not finishing their training courses.

Seems like the wind farms were so hungry for workers that they were hiring people after they had completed the first months of training and putting them to work.

Hard on the college’s statistics, but encouraging for those who are looking for a new career.

We I looking for a school, I’d be Googling junior colleges in the windy parts of the nation.
- Anonymous
  
  Not the biggest problem in the world, eh?
  - Anonymous
    
    If students are still getting hired out of the classroom it might be time for certification programs to redesign their curriculum.
    
    Create a short minimum program which could be completed in a few months, send students into the field to learn on the job, and offer the remainder of the program on line.
  - Anonymous
    
    If students are still getting hired out of the classroom it might be time for certification programs to redesign their curriculum.
    
    Create a short minimum program which could be completed in a few months, send students into the field to learn on the job, and offer the remainder of the program on line.
Robert

Check out Air-Streams. I start training there next week.
- Shaynejames86
  
  yeah man, technicians are now booming and im in the process of going to college to be one.
  - Anonymous
    
    Nice
Veg2

hi , where s the best school or course to do a wind turbine technician? thanks
Rzimon2

Hey enjoyed the videos. I am in process of getting ready to attend training at Air-Streams to become a technician. Can you email me some more on what its like daily doing this job? That would be helpful.

rzimon2@hotmail.com

Thanks.
- Anonymous
  
  I’ve got no info on it, but maybe someone will chime in.
  
  If you’re interested, happy to have you write about your experiences doing so. Would be a great series!
  
  If interested, shoot me an email at zach@importantmedia.org
  - Robert
    
    Aren’t you a technician?
    - Caroline
      
      im looking for a wt tec course in thew UK but canbt find anything….anyone have any ideas? thanks!! caroline@windaid.org