How do you become a Wind Turbine Technician Instructor? Diane Clipper started her career as an Aircraft Technician in the United States Air Force and then transitioned to working on Wind Turbines. She now runs training programmes for wind turbine technicians both in the USA and in Japan. Diane works for dwpa (Danish Wind Power Academy).

Spotlight on one woman’s career from Aircraft to Wind Turbines

Background

What sort of technical things interested you as a child?

Anything that could spin, had gears or could fly.

Looking back, which toys predicted your future career?

The pinwheel (windmill) of course! Really anything that could spin or move interested me.

Are you good at fixing things in general? Can you give examples?

I have always been self-reliant and able to troubleshoot and repair most home or vehicle repairs that have come up. When my dryer was not working properly, I was able to troubleshoot and repair the main 230 circuit breaker for example.

Air Force career which led to Wind Turbine Technician Instructor

Why did you choose the Air Force rather than one of the other services?

I was drawn to the flight aspect and my father had served a four-year tour in his youth.

What are the skills you took with you when you left the Air Force?

The key things I took with me were:

Basic electrical skills,
Well-developed troubleshooting techniques,
Ability to read schematics and
The 6Ps (Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance).

I ended up in a trainer position which has served me well since my time in the Air Force.

Career break before retraining as a Wind Turbine Technician Instructor

You focused on parenting for eight years and then returned to working as a technician.

Yes, after 9/11 I chose to stay at home with my children who were very young at the time. I took classes to become an RN (Registered Nurse), but life happened, and I found myself single and interested in repairing wind turbines.

Based on your experience, what advice would you give to other parents returning to the workforce after a career break?

Find a place that will help you achieve a good work/life balance.

Working as a Wind Turbine Technician

What advice would you give to someone who has just started their first job as a wind turbine technician?
The only way to gain the experience is to get up there and if you don’t know, ASK!

Apart from a strong technical background, what are the three most important skills to have?

Mostly, you need to have a desire and want to be there doing it. Critical thinking is important coupled with self-awareness. You also need to focus on being aware of your surroundings. I would say problem solving by not being afraid to be wrong or fail is key.

What sorts of jobs transition well into working as a Wind Turbine Technician?

Avionics was a great segue as I had familiarisation with the pitch and yaw, as well as sensor and feedback circuits. Reading schematics proved invaluable as I entered this career field.

Working at heights as a Wind Turbine Technician and Instructor

Can you describe the first time you worked at height?

It was breathtaking. To this day I claim that I get paid to workout everyday and it is the office views that kept me coming back.

How quickly did you become confident? And what were your strategies?

I felt comfortable from the beginning, I just focused on the work and enjoyed the views.

What has been your most challenging job working at height?

There have been a few.

I think replacing a spun coupler once in Minnesota stands out. The up-tower repair team for GE was just forming during this period of time and I was a part of creating both the up tower and MCE or major component exchange team as well.

Then there was one in Iowa when I was the lead on a new 2X ESS site, Heartland Divide. The weather was a challenge, it was so cold!

Then there were the handful of times I’ve had to replace the generator cables. When I was a site technician at Prairie Rose, we ended up replacing 46 generator slip rings and 54 gearboxes. So, the time we spent creating the GE up tower repair team and GE MCE team after the Pipestone dispatch centre was done, was put to good use.

There were many challenging jobs working on the wind turbines.

How important is overall fitness for working at heights?
You need to be able to climb and repair as it is important to do the job.
Eating and sleeping well are important to properly do the job every day.

Safety clothing

What sort of safety clothing, footwear, and harnesses did you need to wear?

The required clothing for turbine work is proper rated clothing, safety toe boots, hardhat, gloves, glasses, full body harness with fall factor 2 lanyards. In addition to any specific Lockout-tagout (LOTO) requirements and flame-resistant electrical gear (FR).

What clothing advice do you give to women who are starting work as a wind turbine technician?

There are many more clothing options now so don’t settle for something that doesn’t fit. Something that doesn’t fit properly, is often more of a hazard from my experience.

How did you personally cope with the heat and the cold?

Part determination that I needed the job to raise my children and part pride because I always figured it out no matter how long or what conditions, I could still do it.

Team leading

How did you support your team when a job was very difficult?

I like to get everyone talking and working together to try new ideas and try to look ahead to everyone’s needs.

How did you help a new wind turbine technician when they joined your team?

Simply by focusing on being a mentor and showing them how to do the job safely.

Typical week as a Wind Turbine Technician Instructor

What’s your typical week like?

It takes me to many places around the USA and now I’ve been to Japan twice as well and will be heading back this coming year. We are also upgrading our current training programme so that takes my time, as well as delivering the training in addition to preparing for the next training.

How much of your time is spent training and how much on admin or other tasks?

We strive to maintain a healthy balance between the time away training and the time at home preparing, as well as finding time to spend with family.

How many people do you train in each session?

Our classes are designed for up to 12 participants in the classroom for advanced theory, and 6 in the maintenance and troubleshooting classes in the turbines.

What do you find most challenging when you are training people?

The language barrier when training in other countries, such as Japan for example. To help with this I use online tools such as caption translate on PowerPoint presentations. Having an interpreter has been extremely helpful as well.

How do you make sure your training is memorable?

This is a great question.
My goal is of course for everyone to pass the 40-question exam at the end. However, more important to me is that everyone walks away with an understanding of how the turbine works. I use some extra material to try to make the material more digestible and relatable to the technicians. I strive for more hands-on learning material to help students be more engaged.

Women in Engineering

You are working in a male dominated industry. How do you find this? How do you think it will change over the next ten years?

I was able to transition to this kind of environment due to my time in the Air Force (Flight Line). I am seeing more women in the renewable energy workforce, and I anticipate it will continue to rise.

What needs to be done to encourage more women to consider this career?

It is extremely rewarding, and I think if you are interested you should just try it.

What would you say to a woman who is considering working as a Wind Turbine Technician?

It is a physically demanding job in terrible weather conditions a lot of the time, so in the end you have got to want it and be interested in the renewable energy technology. I would again just say try it, as you won’t know unless you try. I believe that we are all capable of anything we decide to do. Pullzalls are worth the investment, as you can work smarter. The office view is the best.

Further reading

Who repairs all the wind turbines you see everywhere?
Fascinating High Life of a Woman Wind Turbine Technician