Training/Certifications Includes Wind Tower Rescue, Solar Roof Skills BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As support for solar, wind and other alternative energy sources continues to rise, more electrical contractors are training to provide the unique and necessary skills for green construction. According to the latest issue of Electrical Contractor magazine at www.ecmag.com, as more utilities, public and private enterprises back solar energy and wind farms that tie into the grid along with geothermal biomass and fuel cells, training is now the main priority to enable electrical contractors to wire the plants, design and install the technology and provide energy management solutions. After entering the solar market in 2002, O’Connell Electric Co. Inc. in Victor, N.Y. trained its electricians in solar and roof work and was involved in wind-generation work four years prior. “We entered solar cautiously, so we understood the whole installation process from A to Z,” said Tim Ehmann, O’Connell’s senior project manager. “We’ve gone through online programs as well as seminars offered by solar equipment manufacturers and joined the American Solar Energy Society,” he said. “When working with solar, no two installations are the same.” Ehrmann said his firm has done about 90 percent of 20 wind farms in the state, and worked on the collection system for New York’s first wind farm. His company was involved in the collection system, designing and constructing a power station and substation used to drop voltage to appropriate levels for each turbine. “Wind projects put you up on a tower some 90 to 100 meters…you need to train in rescue procedures,” said Ehrmann. In addition to certification from manufacturers of tower rescue devices, his company has also received training in power and wiring of tower electronics through companies such as GE, and has worked on a wind turbine project for a new Cape Cod green business park.
