New Jersey is spending more than $819,000 to support a wind turbine technician training program at Rowan College of South Jersey, the state announced Sept. 27.
The goal of the program is to establish a workforce in South Jersey that could service the offshore wind industry, as the Murphy administration aims to build up 7.5 gigawatts of wind energy over the next decade.
In July, the state began the “NJ Wind Turbine Tech Training Challenge,” to find and back a university that could train technicians for the hundreds of wind turbines that would be situated off the Jersey Shore, or manufactured and shipped out from the state to the entire nation. The Rowan College of South Jersey was ultimately tapped for the job, and the funds will be used for the creation of an “industry-recognized wind turbine technician training program that will support the offshore wind industry and workforce in New Jersey.”
“It is crucial that we take steps now to prepare to meet the industry’s workforce needs and to ensure equitable access to these opportunities for all New Jerseyans,” reads a statement from Tim Sullivan, chief executive officer of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority—one of the state offices overseeing the program.
Rowan students would be able to get two certificates tied to an apprenticeship program and associate degree for wind turbine technology, the NJEDA said. They would be trained in safety and sea survival, as well as other technical training, at the Atlantic Cape Community College in Atlantic City.
They would also need to acquire 36 academic credits through classroom and laboratory learning that would cover “fluid hydraulic systems, electrical machinery, mechanical operations, computer and information technology skills, wind turbine operations, safety training, and soft skills.”
Gov. Phil Phil Murphy (right), U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh (left), Senate President Stephen Sweeney, President of the New Jersey State Building & Construction Trades Council Bill Mullen, AECOM Tishman Community Relations Director Flora Ramos, elected officials, union leaders, environmental advocates, private sector partners and representatives of the offshore wind industry participate in a groundbreaking for the New Jersey Wind Port on Sept. 9, 2021 – EDWIN J. TORRES/NJ GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
The degree could be transferred to an array of four-year degrees and post-grad work.
“Rowan College of South Jersey is ready to do our part to advance the offshore wind efforts in New Jersey,” said school President Frederick Keating.
The academic program would help the South Jersey region “to meet the labor market demands an offshore wind facility brings to the state,” he continued.
Earlier this month, the nation’s top labor leader – U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh – touted the Garden State’s offshore wind efforts as a “national model” for the rest of the country, as the Biden team pushes for a massive $1 trillion infrastructure package.
In New Jersey, there are two wind farms in the works that will total nearly 3,800 megawatts of capacity.
Ørsted North America has full rights to develop the first project, called Ocean Wind, which will have 1,100 megawatts of capacity once completed. Then in June, state regulators approved Ørsted’s application for the 1,148-megawatt “Ocean Wind 2” project and the 1509-megawatt Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF Renewables, making it the nation’s largest offshore wind farm.
There’s also a $250 million manufacturing center in Paulsboro along the Delaware River for the wind turbine components, and a 200-acre facility in Alloway Township, along the Delaware Bay, from which the state would ship out wind turbine components to the rest of the nation.
“As New Jersey transitions to 100% clean energy, it is imperative that we cultivate a workforce prepared to meet the emerging opportunities that building and operating clean energy infrastructure offer,” New Jersey Board of Public Utilities President Joseph Fiordaliso said in a statement. The state agency is taking part in overseeing the program, and approved the bids for the massive offshore wind farms.
