Today we got a chance to check out Iowa Lakes Community College's Gamesa training nacelle. The unit was dropped during installation, donated to the school, and they are just starting to prep it for mounting. The eventual goal is to have this unit as an easily accessible simulator for a running turbine, reducing the need to climb and disable the Vestas V82 the school has in production.

Iowa Lakes Community College runs a Wind Energy Operations and Maintenance (O+M) training program already recognized as the best in the country and it may very well be the best in the world.

Last week we caught up with the unassuming retired Marine behind this program, Al Zeitz, and got the inside story on how ILCC came to be the only wind energy program in the country operating their own full sized turbine.