New opportunity for veterans interested in energy technology careers

IncSys  |  Power4Vets 2012 Year-End Program Report Employers and Veterans, The Power4Vets program was approved and launched in February of 2011, with the objective to recruit and train military veterans to become the next generation of power grid operators. The program has been progressing forward with great success and a number of veterans have landed jobs in the industry and received their NERC RC Certification. We are extremely proud to announce that as of year-end 2012 over 104 Power4Vets students were working for 35+ different companies all across the country. Also, 31 out of 31 students who had taken their NERC RC Certification (100% pass rate) had passed. These numbers have continued to rise in January 2013. We want to express our sincere gratitude to the many companies who have partnered with us in 2012 by hiring Power4Vets students and grads.  We also want to thank and recognize the hard work of the many veterans who completed the program in 2012 and for the hundreds more who are still working hard to complete their training in 2013.  If your organization is interested in finding out more about the program or how to get connected with Power4Vets students and grads, please visit us online www.incsys.com/power4vets or email us at power4vets@incsys.com For more information on the simulation training used in the program, or specific details on the PowerSimulator (Operator Training Simulator) used by the students, please visit us online at www.incsys.com or call us at 425.732.2377 (ext.101). "The Power4Vets trained veterans that we have hired have helped us close the gap in our training process by 2-4 years, putting veterans into Operator Positions rapidly.  Hiring Power4Vets graduates has proven to be a huge SUCCESS for AEP.  We want more veterans like Robert Epps, Robert Grubs and Lonnie Bush."  Mike Anderson   AEP, Supervisor of Transmission and Real Time Operations visit us online

Department of Energy launches Student Design Competition for Wind

DOE Inaugural National Collegiate Wind Competition RFP responses to technical questions posted. The RFP and responses to technical questions (Amendment 1) is available on the Federal Business Opportunities website, solicitation number RFC-3-23003. The deadline is February 19 at 5 pm Mountain Time. On January 8, 2013, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to participate in DOE's inaugural National Collegiate Wind Competition, designed to enable the DOE to help foster the growth of the future wind energy industry and workforce. The Competition is a forum for undergraduate college students of multiple disciplines to investigate innovative wind energy concepts; gain experience designing, building, and testing a wind turbine to perform according to a customized market data-derived business plan; and increase their knowledge of wind industry barriers. The theme of the inaugural competition taking place in May 2014 is to design and construct a lightweight, transportable wind turbine that can be used to power small electronic devices.

If you have any questions, concerns, or announcements that you would like to add to this e-newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact us. For general comments, contact E. Ian Baring-Gould, WPA technical director. For Web-related communications, contact Julie Jones. For general communications, contact Ruth Baranowski. Update your subscriptions, modify your password or e-mail address, or stop subscriptions at any time on your Subscriber Preferences Page. You will need to use your e-mail address to log in. If a colleague forwarded this e-mail to you and you want to subscribe, visit Wind Powering America's subscription page. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact support@govdelivery.com. This service is provided to you at no charge by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE). Visit the website at http://www.eere.energy.gov.

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New Solar Thermal System for Griz House 8

It's been a warm, but snowy and sunny winter in Missoula. Just the conditions you would ask for if you wanted to start to wean yourself from the comforts of combustion. Tim Chester again took matters into his own hands and built not one, but two solar thermal systems over break. "I was bored," said Chester in a recent interview by Journalism graduate student Allison Mills. After installing his first system on his own garage, Tim set out to warm the Director who up to now has been guilty of merely sapping heat from the wall units his colleagues kindly power up. With any luck, Tim's device will keep the southwest corner suite of GH8 warm with BTUs to spare.

Bradley Layton, Tim Chester and Adam Coppock pause for a pose after a successful installation of Tim's solar thermal creation. The total cost of materials was under $250. The system's baffles were made from repurposed aluminum cans which were mindfully deposited in the recently deployed recycling bins at Missoula College.

To hear Allison Mills's KBGA radio interview, click here.