Not knowing what to expect, I arrived at the school full of nerves. The class had 10 other souls beside me. Looking around, I could tell right away that I was the odd man out. Just like Malcom Gladwell’s 10,000 hour experts, a life time of Oklahoma living had given me the ability to identify native Oklahomans with a glance. They look a lot like Texans from the northern part of the state, but they tend to be more partial to scarlet, as opposed to orange. Not that Oklahoma lacks an orange team, people just tend to gravitate towards winners. Sorry Cowboys, but my diploma gives me the right to speak.
As we went around the room and people introduced themselves, I felt a little outclassed. As I would learn later, wind turbines are like oil derricks that go up instead of down, and most of the guys in the class have roughnecked. I don’t know much about roughnecking, (working on oil derricks for the uninitiated), but it sounds like a crap deal. Work is unsteady, dangerous and dirty. The only thing good about it is the pay. Guys around the room traded stories about unemployment, some had been out of a job for more than a year. One fresh out of high school kid introduced himself as an orphan. He’s one of the few people in the class who may be less qualified than me. It is my suspicion that the business is more interested in people who have been around large dangerous machinery than those able to discuss the influence of T.S. Eliott on American poetry.
The program manager came in and showed us a power point presentation, the first of many for this course. I discovered that every megawatt of energy produced by wind power can save up to 600 gallons of water. Considering the increasing value of water, that’s an advantage.
We then took a look at this video: http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/segments/view/1640 It’s the kind of thing that I wish I could’ve seen earlier on. I was very curious about the day to day activities of a turbine technician. I think this video gives a very good idea.
As the director struggled with a defective video feed a few people trickled into the classroom. These folks would make up the 3 person panel discussion which I found most enlightening. The members of the discussion were Greg Adams, a wind developer, Joe Banks, a wind farm manager and Kaylah McNabb who described herself as a liaison between state departments and developers.
Among the many things we learned from the discussion was the importance of land owner relationships. We heard stories about people getting angry about litter and farmers who wore ear plugs to keep out the government signals that the turbines are beaming into his head.
Mr. Adams discussed how there is a 7 to 10 year payback on wind turbines. This initial cost period is then followed by what he called 10 years of gravy. As Mr. Adams put it, “Nothing gets done without a return on investment.” This is the great challenge with wind. While it is clean and profitable, people have to be willing to wait 7 to 10 years before that profit comes through. Most people want to see returns on their investments much sooner than 7 to 10 years. And no doubt many must wonder if there isn’t a more profitable place to invest in.
Joe Banks discussed the day to day life of a turbine tech. Abbreviated: It starts at 6:30 in the morning with a safety meeting. Usually guys are in the tower by 8:00 or 8:15 AM. The day can end anywhere from 3:00 to 4:00 or 7:30 to 8:00.
It was the safety discussion that was the most sobering. The members of panel took this portion very seriously. They discussed how electricity will reach out and grab you. They said that everything on a wind farm is fighting you. Not to mention that you are 300 feet in the sky. They told several stories of people who died on the job. I had read about fatalities in Paul Gipe’s “Wind Power,” but hearing them described first hand was pretty jarring. The worst had to be the guy who got his pony tail sucked into the machinery of a turbine and after following it was quickly reduced to a pulp.
Then we broke for lunch. When we returned, we were told that the panel spent most of lunch discussing the importance of leadership abilities and communicating with others. This announcement was followed by charm school. We interviewed each other, introduced each other based on our interviews, and spoke about who we thought good leaders were in our lives.
After that we were given four cards of different colors. They were blue, orange, green and gold. We were told to organize the cards in the order they most matched our personality. In a moment of inattention I picked blue as the color I most resembled. I didn’t read the whole card and was to find that I was the only person who picked this color. This was then followed by a discussion of how to approach each person according to their color. For example, Greens are analytic, visionaries and one should get right to the point when dealing with them. Blues on the other hand are sensitive and need to be nurtured. Blues are also emotional and sensitive. As the instructor went through my particular quarter of the personality matrix, my head hung lower and lower. In a word, among these roughnecks, I had chosen the category that singled me out as a pussy. It was said that women are often blue. Great, I’m the bitch of the bunch.
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