By IAN ROSS
For years, Sault College has replenished the skilled trades ranks for Algoma Steel and other local industries.
But a new business partner has blown into town offering new job opportunities in the ‘green’ energy field.
Sault College and Brookfield Power have formed a solid partnership with training programs focused on the alternative energy sector.
Brookfield, operators of Canada’s largest wind farm, the 189-megawatt Prince Wind Energy Project located west of Sault Ste. Marie, has teamed up with the college to build the proposed Brookfield Power energy training centre on campus later this year.
To provide future employees, the college is now offering a new two-year program for electrical engineering technicians specializing in power generation. The program will offer students a hands-on experience in implementing and maintaining wind turbines and alternative energy systems and operations.
Their new classrooms and laboratories will feature a fully functioning wind turbine on campus. Besides serving as a training facility, it will be an interpretive centre to generate greater public awareness.
Sault College is renowned for producing leading-edge electrical engineering technicians and technologists.
Other Ontario colleges offer the same provincially-mandated and standard apprenticeship programs, Sault College’s “really shines” with their electrical engineering specialties, says Professor Rob McTaggart.
It’s the nature of their training equipment, the focus on systems and programs’ high level of difficult is what sets them apart, says McTaggart.
“We’ ve really gone to town our automation equipment with solid state motor drives and systems. We have a really good level of difficulty.”
Sault College offers two electrical engineering technician programs... in process automation, and combining process automation and trades. Both are two year programs.
There’s also a three-year program for Electrical Engineering Technologist in process automation.
Though still early to predict class sizes, applications for their technician and technologist programs numbered 31 as of mid-May.
It’s expected class sizes for all their combined programs will fill up to the usual 60 to 70 students come September.
“The majority of the jobs our three-year people go to aren’t electrical trades job, they’re electrical technologist jobs,” says McTaggart.
The college produces electrical technicians and technologists which are midway between an electrician and a university degree professional engineer.
“It’s more rigourous in the academics, especially the three-year (program), and there’s a much wider variety of jobs people can do.”
McTaggart finds the extra third year does wonders to help students mature, “and how they appear to an employer is huge,”
The three-year program is beyond just teaching electrical and electronics fundamentals, it introduces student to major equipment used in the field, such as motors, generators, transformers, and how to control them.
But McTaggart doesn’t mind saying they offer tough programs.
“The attrition rate is fairly high,” starting with usually 60 in first year electrical combined programs, with about 15 graduates by third year. “From a mathematical and work level, they’re fairly rigourous programs.”
In job opportunities, Sault College-trained electrical technicians and technologists go everywhere, says McTaggart, who’s co-signed a few passport applications for some of his grads. Many end up working for local employers like Tenaris Tubes, Flakeboard and Brookfield.
Algoma Steel is also on a hiring binge. The successful steel producer expects to hire 100 tradespeople annually over the next three to five years. The company is building a 70 megawatt co-generation power plant and still has ambitious plans to eventually partner with an international wind energy company seeking to build wind towers for the North American market.
Other students have landed positions with Ontario Power Generation, Dofasco, Domtar, Inco and international engineers Brock Solutions from Kitchener.
A substantial number work for in the Windsor-Detroit auto industry, auto service companies like Fanuc Robotics.
The pay scale for many Sault College graduates from the low range of $40,000 to more than $100,000 US.
On the web: www.saultc.on.ca
