A 45-foot-tall wind turbine in front of its building shows where the electricians' union is located and where it is headed.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' (IBEW) Local 354 erected the turbine and installed an array of solar panels on the flat roof of its facility at 3400 W. 2100 North for two purposes — to generate enough electricity to offset its building's uses, and to provide apprentice and journeyman electricians alike with training in "green energy" projects.

"It's the wave of the future is what they tell us," said Nick Harrison, 31, of Clearfield, who works for Skyline Electric. "I want to learn so that if it comes up in the future, I'll know how to do it. … Technology changes, so you have to keep changing with it."

The wave of change is sweeping over an array of businesses and public institutions in the Salt Lake Valley and beyond.

The IBEW has incorporated solar- and wind-power training into its ongoing education system just as Salt Lake Community College is about to establish a National Institute for Advanced Energy Training.

Using federal funds and forging partnerships with private energy companies and state and local agencies, the college has positioned itself to "be training people all over the U.S. in green-energy jobs," said Mason Bishop, SLCC's vice president of institutional advancement. "We are ready to be the premier training provider in the country."

That can-do attitude befits SLCC's designation as "project leader for energy" in a cooperative effort by the Governor's Office of Economic Development, the state Department of Workforce Services and the Utah System for Higher Education. Its goal is to accelerate development of energy-related companies and to supply skilled technicians to keep those businesses at the forefront of technical innovation.

With roughly $10 million in funding, the college has developed four regional "energy academies" that will provide worker training in topics such as green construction, alternative fuels, energy management, renewable-energy transmission, wind power, solar systems and geothermal resources. It also has been selected by a 15-state consortium to train community college and high school instructors about solar heating techniques and to formulate a national curriculum for trainers to use.

The college also is setting up a "pole yard" at its Larry H. Miller Campus in Sandy to train electric linemen, hoping to help project partner Rocky Mountain Power replace an aging work force. "Half of the linemen are age 50 or more right now," said Bishop, noting that SLCC also will provide training in running electrical grid systems.

In addition, 60 troubled youths involved in a home-building program will receive training in equipping the homes with solar panels.

SLCC even has a chance to develop a campus dedicated to energy and green jobs. Bishop said a donor offered the college 30 acres in Herriman, worth $10 million. But to secure the property, the college must get a match of legislative funding and private-sector support to acquire an adjacent 60 acres.

Projected growth in the demand for electricity, amid increasing public support for use of environmentally conscious renewable resources, is driving this emphasis on green energy education.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration calculated the country's electrical demand will climb 30 percent between 2008 and 2035. The share coming from renewable resources is expected to grow from 9 percent to 17 percent.

The next five years will be especially big for wind power, largely because of federal programs and funding available through 2013. That investment is projected to add 39 gigawatts of electricity from wind power (a gigawatt is one billion watts), twice as much as the 19 gigawatts put into operation between 2003 and 2008, the federal agency reported.

Knowing what's on the horizon, IBEW business manager Richard Kingery said Local 354 "wants to be at the forefront of green energy and to make sure our work force is well-trained when it comes."

So the union program put trainees to work installing the wind turbine, five rows of solar panels on the roof and two more ground-based panels programmed to rotate for maximum sun exposure.

Now that those systems are in place, said training director Carl Brailsford, students can study their wiring systems and connections, see how the DC power they collect is converted into AC power used in buildings, and figure out how to ensure the weight-bearing capacity of mounts and support structures is sufficient.

"You want it to be efficient," Brailsford said. "Part of training is knowing how to do that."

The solar-power class is popular with journeyman electricians who must take 16 hours of continuing education classes annually. About 200 have taken the class, he said, along with 100 apprentices going through their 60 hours of instruction.

Green energy classes fit well into the overall training curriculum, which includes Steve Woodman's instruction in AC power and Gary Beckstrand's class on the national electrical code, which is being modified next year to require qualified individuals to install photovoltaic systems because of a significant shock hazard.

That requirement is definitely needed, said one of Beckstrand's pupils, journeyman electrician Thaniel Bishop, 25, of Magna. The DC power collected in solar panels, he said, "creates a larger shock than AC. It's far more dangerous than a house's electrical system. You need proper training to touch panels."

Being safe goes hand in hand with making a living, added journeyman electrician Ben Ludwig, 33, of Magna. He is taking the class "for money," he said. "The experience of how to handle electricity safely keeps me employed."

mikeg@sltrib.com —

U.S. energy needs

• Renewable energy is expected to grow from 9 percent of total U.S. electricity production in 2008 to 17 percent in 2035.

• Federal incentives are projected to result in 38 gigawatts of wind-generated power being brought on line between 2008 and 2013, twice as much as was added to the electric grid from 2003 to 2008.

• Although the national demand for electricity slowed to annual growth of less than 1 percent in recent years (down from 10 percent in the 1950s), total electricity demand is expected to rise 30 percent from 2008 to 2035.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration