UM College of Technology offers online energy degree

By Joan Melcher

I’m riding an electric bike on the outskirts of Victor, Montana. The feeling is a rare combination of ease, elation and asuspicion that this is too good to be true. The battery-powered bike assists when I pedal, producing a sensation of energy abundance. I’m not doing much and I’m gliding through the air. Then I stop pedaling, adjust the throttle and the bike takes over completely. Oh yeah ...

The bike is one of many interesting and innovative products offered by Sunelco Inc., which specializes in building customized solar, wind, hydro and electric systems. Sunelco is located in Victor but markets and sells its systems internationally. Tom Bishop, president of the company, tells me that all who he’s seen try the bike come back with grins on their face.

The bike could be a symbol of a sort of energy cusp we are on. Because it gets its juice by plugging into the grid, it likely won’t use renewable energy – but it is emblematic of an expansion in the last few years of attitude, scope and possibilities regarding energy technologies.

We all know that Montana is rife with energy sources – coal, wind, hydropower, solar, biofuels and geothermal to name a few. Even better news is that it’s likely the state will also have an abundance of people ready to help use these resources in the coming years.

UM’s College of Technology is offering a two-year online energy technology program to train students in practical hands-on, mid-level leadership and administrative positions in the energy field – from research and development to project and personnel management. Graduates will earn an associate of applied science degree.

The program is offered in partnership with Dawson Community College in Glendive, Miles Community College in Miles City and Montana Tech of UM in Butte. Ashley Preston, program coordinator, said COT also is reaching out to tribal colleges in the state.

“The graduates of this program will best be described as general practitioners equipped with a wide variety of essential skills,” she said. “A specialized understanding of energy systems and technologies will be bolstered by a broad education in science, math, computing, business and communications.”

The program offers online courses on issues of sustainability, traditional and renewable energy sources, and computer modeling. General courses can be taken at partner institutions as well as at COT. All special energy classes will be taken online through the college. The first year ends with a two-week summer session designed to give students hands-on experience with various technologies.

Second-year classes include business law, environmental science, project management and more in-depth courses in energy technologies. The last semester includes an internship where students work for a company that operates in the industry in which the student would like to find employment.

The idea is to train students to be problem-solvers, Preston said. “We’re teaching them to work with technologies and types of jobs that may not even exist yet. Our goal is to prepare people to work successfully and innovatively in the rapidly evolving energy economy, as well as enable them to assess the social, economic and ecological impacts of diverse energy technologies.”

Energy issues are coming to the forefront in public interest, driven by global warming, worries about dependence on foreign oil, and ever-growing populations and energy usage.

Talking with Bishop at Sunelco, the complexity of issues and the changing nature of energy technologies becomes readily apparent. A positive trend in solar technology today is the “grid tie,” meaning solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have been developed that allow homeowners to easily tie into the grid and benefit from net metering. They use the electricity generated from the solar array when they need it and receive credit for excess energy – basically the meter runs backward when they have a surplus.

Another trend presents a bit of a quandary to the grid tie: Germany has been offering very attractive tax incentives to citizens who install renewable energy systems. The response has been so great that the refined silicon used to make solar PV cells is in short supply worldwide, raising the cost significantly. It’s these kinds of unexpected trends that make the energy field complex and will make those with an understanding of it valued employees.

Bishop shows me the solar array on his building. It’s a 2-kilowatt system that cost about $17,000. Bishop received a $7,000 incentive grant from Northwestern Energy, and federal and state tax credits will decrease his out-of-pocket expense to less than $7,000, but it still will take some time to recoup the investment.

Bishop began working at Sunelco in 1988 and bought the company in 2002. He noted that even today many renewable resources only “pencil out” in remote locations without access to the electrical grid, and much of Bishop’s business is aimed at this market. However, he said there are many other reasons people are opting for renewable systems: to lock in an electrical rate, they view it as an investment, because their neighbors have one or to reduce their carbon footprint.

Bishop is on the steering committee for COT’s energy technology program. He looks forward to organizing workshops for students and having an intern from the program work at his company. He said students may use the program in several ways. Some may earn the AAS degree and find employment with an energy company. Others may use it as a general education and move on to another major or use it as a starting point for much more in-depth study in engineering or another field.

“What we’d like to do is to give them a well-rounded education so they graduate having an idea of what they want to do,” he said.

COT has offered energy classes for several years; the curriculum was developed by former COT Dean Paul Williamson and Brian Kerns, both of whom are working independently on alternative energy projects from offices in UM’s Mike and Maureen Mansfield Center.

Kerns recently received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is being used to purchase a downdraft gasifier. The gasifier uses wood or agricultural waste that is heated to a high temperature to produce a hydrogen gas that powers an electric generator. Kerns will use it in his bioenergy classes.

Funding for COT’s energy program comes from the Montana Agro-energy Plan through a U.S. Department of Labor Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development grant.
The state Department of Commerce secured the grant, which is being used to develop a wide range of projects.

MAP is a priority of Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Its goal is to establish a globally competitive bio-energy and bio-products cluster in Central and Eastern Montana that will create high-paying jobs and increase farm income.

UM Associate Vice President for Research and Development Tony Rudbach noted the importance of providing educational opportunities in Eastern Montana, as well as developing jobs in the energy sector.

“We have a workforce that needs work opportunities, and the energy industry can provide livable wages with benefits for Eastern Montanans,” he said. Rudbach notes that efforts to increase training and education in energy across the state have benefited from a cooperative approach among the state Department of Commerce, UM’s COT and Montana State University-Billings.

MSU-Billings offers energy courses directed more toward the “nuts and bolts” of the technology, Rudbach said, such as pipe fitting and welding. COT modified its program to eliminate any duplication of effort along those lines.

John Campbell, senior engineer at Northwestern Energy, is a liaison for the company’s renewable energy program, which has provided incentive funds for 350 renewable installations in Montana since its inception in 1999. Most of them have been solar PV systems.

“It appears to me at the national and world level that there is a tremendous amount of money to be spent in the future on renewable energies,” he said. “What’s driving it more than economics is this whole global warming issue, which is quite different than in the 1970s and ’80s, when it was oil prices. So I think there’s definitely a market.”

Campbell said large-scale wind installations are probably the most cost-effective of the renewable options in Montana, but because wind is not a constant, all wind systems have to have back-up power, which adds significantly to the cost of the project. He noted that Montana ranks fourth in the nation in wind generation potential and Invenergy’s 135-megawatt wind farm near Judith Gap has the highest capacity factor for wind in the nation.

Campbell, who also is a member of the energy program’s steering committee, notes that Northwestern is spending much more on conservation than renewables at this point. “We’re going to get 100 megawatts worth of resource from our conservation efforts,” he said, which center on incentives to lower energy costs through purchase of compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy-saving products and technologies.

Campbell sees another reason for Northwestern’s investment in renewables – market transformation. That’s the concept that promotion of a technology will increase production and sales, driving the cost down and making it more economically viable. The best example of this is computers, which dropped significantly in price as they became a staple in offices and homes.

Back at Sunelco, I’m talking with Nick Mariana, a technician who is building a solar lighting system that will be used in an off-grid location. One of his most memorable projects was sent to the Galapagos Islands. It included wind- and solar-powered systems for an on-land research facility and a floating barge. I guess you can do a lot from Victor, Montana.

A list of program courses and entrance requirements for the energy program can be found online at http://www.cte.umt.edu/energy.