Kalamazoo Valley to Host Wind Turbine Technician Academy Open House

On Tuesday, October 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Kalamazoo Valley Community College will be holding an open house for its Wind Turbine Technician Academy. During the open house, attendees will have an opportunity to learn about the program, career paths for wind technicians, interview with recruiters and take a tour of the facility. The academy is offered at the college’s Groves Center located at 7107 Elm Valley Drive in Kalamazoo.

Representatives from NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and the sun, will also be on hand to give a presentation during the open house. NextEra Energy has been a valuable member of the Wind Turbine Technician Academy advisory committee over the past years, providing Kalamazoo Valley Community College with upcoming technology changes, best practice developments and validation of graduate performance in the job once hired. NextEra Energy helps the school maintain a continuously improving curriculum aligned with industry best practices. The company also recently donated two wind turbine nacelles to the school’s Wind Turbine Technician Academy. The media and attendees will have the chance to watch training demonstrations on the newly donated equipment during the open house.

Today, American wind power supports more than 100,000 jobs. Kalamazoo Valley Community College, located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, created the Wind Turbine Technician Academy in 2009 to meet workforce challenges of the wind industry and support students interested in launching careers as wind turbine technicians by providing a fast track to jobs that are in demand and pay high wages.

Kalamazoo Valley offers the course as a non-credit, full-time program allowing students the chance to be job-ready in less than six months. Focused on specific, hands-on competencies, the unique training model followed at the academy moves students from the classroom to the learning labs and into the field quickly. More than 96 percent of Wind Turbine Technician Academy alumni work in the wind industry, with the majority accepting offers for employment prior to graduation. The academy is offered twice a year, in January and July. The next academy begins on January 3, 2020. For more information visit www.kvcc.edu/wind.

NextEra Energy Resources, LLC (together with its affiliated entities, “NextEra Energy Resources”), is a clean energy leader and is one of the largest wholesale generators of electric power in the U.S., with approximately 21,000 megawatts of net generating capacity, primarily in 36 states and Canada as of year-end 2018. NextEra Energy Resources, together with its affiliated entities, is the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage. The business operates clean, emissions-free nuclear power generation facilities in New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin as part of the NextEra Energy nuclear fleet, which is one of the largest in the United States. NextEra Energy Resources, LLC is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE). For more information, visit www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.