2 the clackamas print
new!
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010
Wind technology blows thru carnpu
By Johii Hurlburt
Co-Editor in Chief
Hidden three miles in from
Oregon’s scenic Columbia River
Gorge, more than250 wind turbines
capture the power of truly renew
able energy and create a skyline
that would make Don Quixote’s
courage dissolve.
The wind turbines are a part of
Portland General Electric’s Biglow
Canyon Wind Farm, a site where
future students going through
Columbia Gorge Community
College’s Renewable Energy
Technology program will be
trained.
Due to a partnership forged
between Clackamas Community
College and CGCC, students can
take the first year of classes in
order to get a Renewable Energies
Technologies degree with a focus
on wind technologies at CCC
before drifting to Columbia Gorge
to finish their training and joining
Oregon’s exploding green industry.
The pay for a trained technician
starts at about $18 to $20 in the
field, a fortune to someone fresh
out of high school and more than
many people can hope for even
after receiving a four-year degree.
Dale Coyle, Biglow Canyon plant
manager, reminds, however, there
are some strings attached to making
the pay. Most importantly is techni
cians cannot be afraid of heights.
Soon students will go out to the
Biglow site early in the training in
so that they can scale the energy
creating monoliths. Experiencing
this early on is important for new
students, according to Coyle.
“It’d be wrong to go through
two years of college and then get
out here and try to climb a tower
and realize you’re scared of towers,
scared of heights and not want to
do the job,” Coyle said.
Climb training at Biglow will
start once liability issues have been
sorted out because regardless of,
how safe the turbines are, there will
always be an element of danger
surrounding them.
Currently at Coyle’s site, there
have not been any accidents in
the three years it has been run
ning; however, at a nearby site
named Klondike, a worker fell to
his death from a turbine in August
2007, becoming the first and only
employee killed working on a tur
bine in Oregon.
In the Oregon Occupational
Safely and Health Administration
report on the accident, it was found
that those working in the tower
were not properly instructed or
supervised for the operations they
were performing, and they had not
been properly trained in how to
escape from “the hub,” the top part
of the tower containing the equip
ment to harness wind and
convert it into electricity.
The report went on to state
that nothing was structurally wrong
with the tower and it would not have
fallen if it would have been oper-
ated correctly.
Those who are afraid of heights
aren’t the only people who would
have a hard time working on tow
ers; claustrophobes can toss their
applications into the trash as well.
Work conditions are tight. In
order to get to the top of the tower,
technicians are required to climb
ladders up the entire height of the
tower in an area not wide enough
to stretch his or her arms.
The light purr produced by a
turbine farm is reminiscent of the
sound a bee makes in the distance.
Even standing under the 84 meter
giants, one doesn’t here more than
a whisper, unless the day happens
to be savage and cruel.
During the winter .the turbines
can turn into catapults; Chunks of
ice accumulated on the blades up to
four pounds can be hurled off when
the wind blows hard enough turn
ing the farm into a v potential
hot zone of iced > L artillery.
Hard hats must be
worn on site at all times
because the white behe
moths may forge clean,
I renewable
energy,
/ but they demand
respect.
For every 8 to 10 power creat
ing giants, there is one technician
constantly servicing his wind tur
bines, making sure they continue
work too safely and support elec
tricity f°r over 100 houses. The
constant maintenance explains why
no creaks escape from any poorly
lubricated friction points.
A quiet operation is important
when 141 turbines, with the small
est blades at 83 meters, are spinning
simultaneously. Currently these
turbines are providing six or seven
percent of PGE’s electrical output,
but by 2025 the company plans to
have 25 percent of its power com
ing from renewable energy.
The money for creating the tur
bines comes to consumers in the
form of utility bills.
Scott Giltz, dean of Clackamas’
technical career education division,
says it’s a good opportunity, for
those who can deal with the job
“It’s a big emerging field,
with something
like 600
jobs projected over the next]
years,” Giltz said about tha
energy industry .adding, “th J
in Oregon.”
Giltz was one of the movl
shakers that have made then]
ship with CGCC possible, 1
is currently one of the indil
working to get Clackamas]
Renewable Energy Techa
Degree, which is currently]
approved by the state of Ora
To Giltz th]
of renewable I
is extremely I
tant because hl
the future despi
needing to beat
er place.
“We’ve got!
using as much]
as we do and sto]
natural resources.!
where this techl
comes in,” Giltz col
ed. “This kind ofj
ogy is really I
and essentiall
lutely essa
.
Eat your way into organic foo
at Farmer-Chef Connection
By Abigail Neet
News Editor
Janet Grosz Clackamas Print
The hoop house has vegetable rows named after native
tribes in Oregon. The produce grows through the winter with
no heating source.
r~ staff
the clackamas
print
19600 S. Molalla Ave.
Oregon City, OR 97045
503-594-6266
Clackamas Community College is
co-hosting Farmer-Chef Connection
2010.
This will be the second year for the
event to be held at CCC and the 10th
year overall.
According to Elizabeth Howley,
department chair for horticulure, the
Farmer-Chef Connection is a great
way for farmers and chefs to net
work.
Farmer-Chef Connection is on
Monday, March 8 from 8 am. to 3
p.m. in Gregory Forum.
“It is pretty amazing,” Howley
said. “It’s a great opportunity for those
who love to grow food to get together
with stares and chefs.”
Howley said stores such as a New
Seasons come to the event to purchase
food. New Seasons also has a chef
come, too.
There are workshops for fanners
and chefs as well as fanner and chef
speed dating.
Howley explained that farmers
bring in their best food and the chefs
cook it
Horticulture student Katyn Bassett
went to last year’s Farmer-Chef
Connection as a student volunteer and
food consumer and said the event was
very successfill.
“It was worth it just for the food,”
Basset said. “The lunch is amazing.”
Howley agreed that the food was
probably the best she had had all year.
The food is brought by farmers
and prepared by chefs.
Basset also noticed that it was a
good way for people to make con
nections.
Bruce Nelson, a horticulture
instructor, said he has seen a change in
what is wanted from the program as
more and more students are interested
in food production.
“We are struggling with it inter
nally,” he said, of how to accom
modate the demand and give people
job skills.
Nelson believes it has a lot to do
with current times and people wanting
to fann and buy locally. Nelsd
goes with the nationwide inten
Nelson agreed that Fami
Connection is a good way for
meet local growers.
There are 56 horticultura
covering a variety of material
from organic farming to pesta
ment and landscaping. Nels
that although there are not ta
food production classes, then
of overlap. For example fan!
learn a lot from pest mana
classes.
Nelson, himself teaches an
ic gardening class which ga
soil prep, tools to use, oiganil
rials, cold weather procedí
when to plant.
The college was donated]
house,z which is basically I
house to garden through tha
that Howley’s class takes cara
hoop house uses no heating I
successñil plant growth.
Nelson said it is used to I
students on the possibilities of 1
through the winter.
X
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The
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