James Madison University students will now have the chance to break into the alternative energy workforce by learning the ropes in the new Small Wind Training and Testing Facility being built. The Small Wind Testing and Training Facility features a 7.5 KW hybrid wind turbine / photovoltaic system, utilized for the training of personnel who will analyze, design, build, install and maintain wind energy infrastructure. The facility will use wind to power itself and excess power will go to a battery charge back inside the facility and all excess power beyond that will go back into the electrical grid.

The  training and testing facility will help increase the potential for growth of green jobs in Virginia while advancing implementation of wind power across the Commonwealth. Support for the facility will be provided through the State Energy Program of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

We’ve been involved for a number of years in teaching about wind in the classroom, we’re involved in community colleges and K-12 in the community, and we felt it was the appropriate time to get a better instrument for measuring wind” - Johnathan Miles, Professor of Integrated Science and Technology and Director of the Virginia Center for Wind Energy at James Madison University.