STL WindStart: Tackling the Wind Technician Shortage

Allen Hall and Joel Saxum speak with Brandon McKelvain and Jeremy
McKelvain from Safety Technology USA (STL) to discuss their
trailblazing WindStart program. They visited STL's impressive
training facilities in Abilene, Texas and discovered how the
organization is addressing the critical shortage of wind
technicians through hands-on, industry-focused education. Sign up
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www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.com Allen
Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I'm your host,
Allen Hall, along with my co host, Joel Saxum. The U. S. wind
industry needs to train thousands of new wind turbine technicians
in the coming years to meet our ambitious goals for wind energy
deployment. And today we're joined by Brandon McKelvain training
manager at Safety Technology USA. Better known as STL. Also, Jeremy
McKelvain who is the WindStart program manager at Safety Technology
USA. Safety Technology USA, which is commonly called STL for short,
is a leading wind technician training organization that provides
industry standard accredited courses. Their goal is to help build
the wind workforce. of the future by training safer, more competent
entry level and intermediate technicians. Joel and I visited the
Safety Technology USA training facilities in Abilene, Texas
recently. So if you haven't been to Abilene, you should visit their
facility. It's pretty impressive. There we met with Brandon, and
we're really impressed by the level of training equipment and the
variety of training programs. So Brandon, Jeremy, welcome to the
program. Brandon McKelvain: Yeah, thank you, Allen. Allen Hall: We
need thousands of wind technicians. And right now, especially in
West Texas, where you guys are there's a huge demand for
technicians that are trained and are knowledgeable in the wind
industry. And, one of the, one of the programs you have To do that
is the wind start program. And I want to start there because I want
to everybody understand what is the wind start program. And if you
want to get into wind, why would you choose that program? Jeremy
McKelvain: What we do is we go out to career fairs trade schools,
community college. advertise WindStart. Yes, it is STL or safety
technology but it's a program for it. We get them interested and
tell them what we offer through our WindStart program at safety
technology, get them interested and then get them signed up for
these classes. Give them their relevant training, all their
certifications give them some extra training as well. That's a
little bit more technical to prepare them for an entry level job
into the wind industry. And then connect them with our partners
that we have, our customers that we have for interviews, try and
get them hired on right away. You mentioned that we have thousands
of people that we need to hire. By 2030, it's estimated that we
need to hire close to 500, 000 bodies for the wind industry. So
doing this as a wind star program as the manager go in and we try
and find those bodies there. You get good paying jobs. You have a
reliable career. And for me, my whole thing was, I love helping
people. I love helping people and guiding people. I've done it for
20 years in the Air Force. Now I just transitioned into this, so
that's what the windstar program is a way to introduce people into
the wind industry. Let's be real. Let's face it. Renewable energy
is the way of the future and through safety technology, we can
train those people through the windstar program and get them in an
amazing career in wind as a wind technician. That's it. Joel Saxum:
So you guys are going to high schools, community colleges what
other kind of community outreach you do you guys do? Cause you're
actually being like the boots on the ground, going and grabbing
these people. Cause that's what the industry needs, right? We know
there's training centers dot, dot it all over the place, but that
effort to actually be the people that are going in talking to who
could be these candidates and bringing them in to get them to that
training. That's what's really needed. So you guys are actually
doing the boots on the ground activities as well. Jeremy McKelvain:
I went to one in Roswell, New Mexico last week that was for the job
corps, for students young people who were either didn't finish high
school and they're going back to finish their diploma, get their
GED and learn some trait. They reached out and wanted to see if we
could, If we could attend. And I went and those people, they were
extremely excited to see me. The students were, but also the
director of the job corps and some of their instructors that taught
their electrical training, their painting, their construction,
their plumbing. It's just getting our voice out there, our name out
there, and getting people interested for to basically spread the
word on. Allen Hall: So who is your typical candidate? What, like
where, what's their background education level? What are they
looking to do for, to further their career? Jeremy McKelvain: A lot
of them know people, either friends or family that have been in the
wind industry, and they know about it. They want to do it. They
just don't know how to get into it. Or we'll have recent high
school graduates. People that did not finish a four year degree
that want a job, want a good, reliable, good paying job with
benefits just like our partners have. And those are the ones that
really seem to pique the interest. Somebody that wants to make
something, make a better life for themselves and their families.
Allen Hall: And are they primarily based in Texas or are they
coming from elsewhere? Jeremy McKelvain: Right now we have traveled
mainly through Texas. Thank you But I have had people reach out to
me from Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico Iowa, South Africa.
I've had people from the UK reach out. We are, we're not going to
discriminate. And that's one of my big things that I definitely
learned in the military is provide people a chance. Diversity makes
your workforce. And different points of view, work ethics. That's
what we want. We want to give people a chance. We want to give them
the tools to succeed in what we're doing and what we can provide.
Joel Saxum: Yeah. So right now we're talking about the wind start
program. So when someone goes into the wind start program, what can
they expect as far as costs, the act of education, they come out of
there, any certifications they come out with and it's in the length
of time so that, if they're listening, go, okay, I understand
basically what's required of me. And. And what I'll leave the
program with. Jeremy McKelvain: Our WindStart program has has a
couple of different options. We offer a three week course and a
four week course. Our three week course focuses around the GWO
certifications, the Global Wind Organization certifications. You
get your basic safety training, your basic technical training, your
advanced rescue training, and then you get to take an elective. Now
that four week course, you're going to get all of those things as
well, but you're also going to get An additional five days that
focuses more on your technical training your your electrical, your
mechanical, your hydraulics, things like that. That's gonna be a
little bit more industry specific, which everything really is. But
that's gonna. going to give you a little bit more, but that's our
four week course. Joel Saxum: So they may not come out of there as
an expert, but at least he's been exposed to, it's going to not be
the first time they've heard the word hydraulic or electric motor
or something. When they get to the field, they may have, they'll
seen it before and they may have some working knowledge of it and,
be that new team member that is going to need to be trained up in
the real world, they're not coming in completely green. They've
got. They've got all their safety search. They're ready to hit the
field. And they've been exposed to the, the general concepts within
a wind turbine. To me, they'll be steps ahead, right? Light years
ahead of someone that's just walking off the street. Brandon
McKelvain: The WindStar program, it really it hits home to me
personally, because, What Jeremy's talking about that was me, I
didn't have I wasn't gonna go to school for four years I was you
know, I was not suited well for that didn't want anything to do
with school But I needed a good pay a job, you know Wasn't you
know, I needed to get out and work, And that's the other thing is,
to go to a you know A two year trade school or something like that
also wasn't in the cards for me I needed something quick. I needed
to just get in. And, fortunately I was hired, right out of high
school, but I was just thrown off into the deep end, and there,
there wasn't good training for me for the first few years and
whatnot. And then I linked up with a better company and I got the
good training and I grew up around a shop atmosphere and, things
like that. I knew, mechanics and, all that good stuff. My dad was a
mechanic going to shop and. So I knew some stuff, but when it came
to things like electricity, I knew nothing and I had no business
being out there, so we come at it from a unique perspective. All of
our instructors here have, most of them have over 10 years of field
experience in this industry, and they really know what the
competencies are and what we need.