A new facsimile wind turbine tower to be constructed at Federation University will assist trainee technicians in servicing and understanding the growing renewable energy market, and save them having to travel overseas to build their skills.
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The 23-metre tower will be built on the campus by local company SJ Weir and Portland's Keppel Prince Engineering as part of the Asia Pacific Renewable Energy Training Centre. Federation University has established the centre in collaboration with energy companies Acciona, Vestas, GPG and Tilt Renewables.
Federation University vice-chancellor and president Professor Duncan Bentley says it's important for a Ballarat institution to be a leader in this kind of training, given the increasing use of renewables in the region.
"It's absolutely fantastic we've been able to work with government and industry to be able to pull this together as a first for Australia," Professor Bentley said.
"It's critical for us to be able to provide the skills needed in the regions and for Australia generally. We don't need to have people having to fly all the way to Denmark to get their training when we can do it here in Australia.
"We see this is just the beginning. We have a plan which builds on the deep industry partnerships we're celebrating here today, to become the leading training and research partner for Australia's renewable fuel sector... providing end-to-end solutions for the renewable energy industry from developing the latest renewable energy research and technology to training the technicians will build and maintain it."
Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D'Ambrosio said the state government had made its mark as a leader in renewable energy, and was creating jobs to go with it.
"This is a transition that is not just about building more wind farms or more solar farm or indeed hydrogen," Ms D'Ambrosio said.
"We need to have an electricity network that meets our new needs, a network more distributed in terms of where the source of energy production occurs, and where it needs to take that energy, that power, and sending right across the states. So it's not just electricity generation in transition; so is our electricity transmission network. It needs to change to meet where new sources of power are coming from."
Minister for Training and Skills Gayle Tierney said it was exciting a local university and TAFE was training local people for a local industry.
"This is exactly what TAFEs and universities need to be about, delivering relevant training," Ms Tierney said.
"People who have already got trade qualifications can actually come here, have a very intensive course and then become qualified in wind farm building on that trade certificate, whether it be a fitter and turner, electrical or plumbing."
