Reid flips switch on state’s first wind turbine

By Jeff Pope (contact)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 | 2:15 p.m.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid flipped the switch and Mother Nature provided ample gusts today, turning the state’s first wind turbine to provide electricity to the power grid.

The 51-foot Skystream 3.7 windmill won’t satisfy the state’s energy needs, it will help train the electrical workers who will build and maintain future wind farms throughout the country.

It’s located at 620 Leigon Way, near Bonanza Road and Lamb Boulevard, at the joint training center of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 357 and the Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee of Southern Nevada.

To tap Nevada’s potential to generate electricity through wind turbines, the industry will need an educated workforce, Reid said.

“Someone wants to have a solar panel put on the roof of their home or a wind turbine in their backyard or some business wants to do it on a larger scale, they need to go where people know how to use the technology,” he said. “Anytime you see something like this, it means jobs.”

The Electrical JATC has trained 300 workers since 2006 on photovoltaic panels and the first class on wind turbines filled up within a week, said Madison Burnett, training director of the Electrical JATC.

Burnett said he receives calls from around the country from electrical workers who want to be trained on the turbines.

“Right now I don’t know of anyone providing training. We’d be the first,” he said. “Our biggest thing is to make sure the worker is well-trained on the system because if they’re not, this will fail. People will become discouraged and this will fail.”

Duke Energy has proposed harnessing Southern Nevada’s winds near Searchlight with a wind farm capable of generating 300 megawatts.

NV Energy offers homeowners rebates of $2.50 per watt for wind turbines, based on the turbine’s electricity production capacity, further creating demand for trained installers.

The demand for “green” jobs could also receive a boost from the federal economic recovery plan, which provides $78.6 billion in clean energy, energy efficiency, environmental and green transportation funding. There are also energy-related tax incentives.

The Nevada Legislature has mandated that 15 percent of power generated in the state come from renewable resources by 2013.

The country needs to diversify its energy resources to become less dependent on foreign oil, Reid said.

“On a national level we need to make sure on a certain day, a certain percentage of all energy produced in the United States comes from renewable resources,” he said. “That’ll be part of what we’ll be working on this year.”