Minnesota West Community and Technical College is receiving a little help in its efforts to grow a renewable energy program.
The college, along with Minnesota State University Mankato, recently received a $500,000 grant that will help both schools continue to develop programs focusing on renewable energy.
Duane Carrow, director of the Renewable Energy Technology program at Minnesota West Community and Technical College, said the programs in Mankato and Granite Falls/Canby worked together for the grants.
“We have worked with Minnesota State University Mankato on multiple projects,” said Carrow. “We jointly requested some funding to continue those projects. This is the second award we have received along this line.”
Carrow said this is the second grant the two colleges have received jointly, which have been split between the schools.
“The first award was also for $500,000,” said Carrow. “We split it so each college takes $250,000 out of it.”
The $500,000 grant is part of a $4 million federal grant to the Minnesota State Colleges and University system.
The $250,000 portion of the grant going to Minnesota West will go toward continuing programs in the renewable energy curriculum.
“(This grant) will continue some of the programs that we’ve already started with the center,” said Carrow. “It’s basically to provide leadership in the region on curriculum development, and a lot of what the renewable industry needs is talent development and employees with the knowledge for these industries.”
Carrow said the two schools, Mankato and Minnesota West, have different types of programs dealing with renewable energy.
Carrow said the Mankato program deals primarily with research and development while Minnesota West focuses on training.
“We’ll focus on production training for the latest technologies in sustainable energy,” said Carrow. “Mankato will focus more on research.”
In recent years, the renewable energy industry has increased in southwestern Minnesota with businesses in Pipestone, Canby and other parts of the region.
Carrow said Minnesota West has worked closely with those businesses to develop skill sets for its students.
“We work very closely (with local renewable energy businesses) not only on helping them develop talent for their business but also to work with them as far as really developing curriculum for what they need,” Carrow said.
“They will indicate what types of skill sets they need, and we’ll develop that into a program for not only employees they already have but also new employees that are college students,” he added.
The renewable energy program at Minnesota West is split between the Canby and Granite Falls locations.
Carrow said the Canby location, which has about 25 students, focuses on wind energy.
The Canby program includes a wind turbine on-site that students work on, in addition to hands-on experiences along the Buffalo Ridge.
The Granite Falls location has a focus on bio-fuels, Carrow said.
With students on campus and through correspondence, Carrow said the bio-fuels program is used by businesses looking to train employees in addition to educating future workers.
Carrow said the program at Minnesota West is one of the leading programs of its kind in the nation.
“The state of Minnesota and specifically Minnesota West for application training, we’re leaders in the nation,” said Carrow. “With this new funding we will focus on some new development in the bio-fuels program, and also in the solar and photovoltaic training.”
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