Cincinnati State Community and Technical College is building Southwest Ohio's workforce development efforts with a new "smart grid" major, set to launch next fall.
This major will focus on the electric power industry's growing "smart grid" technology, designed to make electricity usage more efficient, thereby reducing the need for new power plants -- and more interactive, allowing consumers to better control and monitor their electricity use through mobile devices and the Internet.
The Cincinnati State major will train student-technicians to install "smart" meters as well as maintain them and work on distribution and transmission processes. The major will be geared toward the electric utility industry, but Cincinnati State officials say skills learned can be used across an array of industries.
Courses will include physics, algebra, and "Direct Current Circuit Analysis," "Alternating Current Circuits Lab," "Introduction to the National Electric Code" and "Power Systems Design."
Large electric utilities like Duke Energy, American Electric Power and FirstEnergy are all developing smart-grid capabilities in Ohio. For example, Duke received $200 million in federal stimulus money to help build its system in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, North Carolina and South Carolina. That includes the installation of approximately 4 million smart meters at Duke's customers' homes and businesses. Duke already has installed 47,500 electric and 28,800 smart meters across Cincinnati. Eventually, 700,000 electric and 450,000 natural gas meters will be installed across Ohio.
"Smart, digital technology is changing the face of the energy industry in much the same way wireless changed the telephone business," said Mark Wyatt, Duke Energy's vice president of smart grid and energy systems. "Having a major devoted to understanding how this technology integrates with today's grid is an important first step in preparing tomorrow's energy professionals."
Source: Bob White, Cincinnati State and Technical College Communications
Writer: Feoshia Henderson