Job opportunities abound for TMCC geothermal grads

Truckee Meadows Community College will graduate its first two students from a one-of-a-kind program that trains people to operate geothermal plants.

Despite a slowdown in development of geothermal facilities, the TMCC graduates as well as nearly 40 more who will follow them in mid-2013 find no shortage of job opportunities, says Norma Velasquez-Bryant, who manages the program.

TMCC is getting calls from geothermal companies, both in Nevada as well as other states such as California that are hotbeds of alternative-energy development, Velasquez-Bryant says.

The school made a number of key connections when members of the Geothermal Resource Council from around the world met in Reno in late September.

The 40 geothermal plant operators that TMCC expects to graduate each year, Velasquez-Bryant says, probably is just enough to cover vacancies created by retirements or promotions at geothermal plants nationwide and won't address the need for skilled operators at new facilities.

Nevadaworks, the agency that oversees workforce training in the state, has provided $262,000 to train low-income workers to take skilled positions in the geothermal industry.

The grant puts pressure on TMCC: The school is required to find jobs or internships for the 16 students who are enrolled through the Nevadaworks program, and they need to complete a program that ordinarily takes three semesters within a single year.

But Velasquez-Bryant notes that intense study isn't daunting to the students, most of whom are over 30 years old and looking for a solid career.

"The students are highly motivated," she says. "They're getting re-trained, or finding a career for the first time."

About half the 16 students enrolled through the Nevadaworks funding are women.

And although geothermal plant operators often face shift work in remote locations, wages that typically start at $25 an hour keep students' attention, Velasquez-Bryant says.

The coursework that leads to an associate's degree in energy technologies ranges from basic English composition and math to detailed study of environmental regulations, process controls and geothermal plant operations.

One student looking for a job, Velasquez-Byrant says, was asked by a major geothermal company to create a schematic of a geothermal power plant on a whiteboard as one of his first questions during an interview. He answered the question, barely breaking a sweat.

The biggest challenge facing the program is recruitment of instructors who know the subject matter and also have good teaching skills, says Jim New, dean of applied industrial technology at TMCC.

Some of the teachers are professionals in the geothermal industry in northern Nevada, and they also played a role in developing the curriculum after TMCC launched it with Department of Energy funding it received in 2010.

As development of geothermal resources builds momentum around the world, TMCC is working with the U.S. State Department to develop a curriculum to train geothermal-plant operators for African nations, Velasquez-Byrant says.