(Tucumcari) Perched nearly 300 feet above the New Mexico plains, strapped to the top of a wind turbine by nothing more than a safety harness, Terrill Stowe is in his element.
“In 14 years, I have never seen anyone fall. I hope this is not the first time today,” jokes the technician instructor, addressing AFP journalists who have just climbed the 260 rungs of the ladder leading to the roof.
This wind turbine towers over the small town of Tucumcari in the southwestern United States. Like a solitary giant, lost in the vastness along the famous Route 66.
Built in 2008, it is one of the few operational wind turbines where American apprentice technicians can train in the maintenance of these machines.
A vital tool, used by a local higher education institution to support a booming industry in the United States.
The amount of electricity that wind power can generate has more than doubled in a decade. The country has about 75,000 wind turbines, which produce enough electricity to power 40 million American homes.
Maintenance is therefore becoming a crucial issue. But “there are not enough technicians compared to the number of wind farms,” explains Mr. Stowe.
The teacher trains 10 to 20 students per semester. First in a ground-level hangar with a replica generator and gearbox, before climbing up to the engine room, housed in the heart of the three blades of the giant tower.
Sensitive souls refrain
The job is not for the faint of heart, according to Mr. Stowe.
“I tell them that if they’re scared of heights, they shouldn’t do it,” he says. When there are gusts of wind, being on top of a wind turbine is “like rocking on a boat, back and forth […] 100 meters in the air.”
Recent recruits include Nathaniel Alexander and Kevin Blea who have graduated and become instructors themselves.
“I’m all for clean energy,” said Alexander, a Tucumcari local. But the 28-year-old mostly wanted to do “a man’s job” with a good salary.
The training lasts two years and costs between $6,000 and $10,000. It leads to positions that pay $50,000 to $90,000, well above the average salary in the region.
While falling costs and improving wind technology are driving the sector’s growth, the industry has also received a major boost from Joe Biden, who has funded an ambitious green agenda.
Yet few people in Tucumcari, a conservative rural region nestled on the edge of otherwise largely Democratic New Mexico, appreciate it.
There has been “a sort of upward trend” in recent years, Stowe acknowledges.
“But actually, when Trump was there, the uptrend was more pronounced than under Biden,” he said.
Mr. Alexander, for his part, believes that the tax credits granted to wind power have “definitely helped” the industry, but admits to being “not very passionate” about the sector’s green reputation.
“Conspiracy Theories”
What interests him more is reading “conspiracy theories about how much diesel it takes to run” a wind turbine.
“That’s not true at all, I just find it quite funny,” he smiles.
Wind turbines are frequently struck by lightning, requiring technicians to climb to repair them. But safety has changed dramatically in recent years.
Before his coaching career, Mr. Stowe occasionally crawled on a “frozen sheet of ice” atop wind turbines buffeted by 90-mph winds.
“Back then, the weather didn’t matter,” he says wistfully. “Now, if there’s any uncertainty about the weather, they don’t climb.”
His other former student, Mr. Blea, remembers seeing one of his classmates “vomit in his helmet” because of the wind that was tossing the training wind turbine.
“It was pretty disgusting, honestly,” the 27-year-old laughs.
But the dangers are soon forgotten, Mr. Alexander said, thanks to a career punctuated by “impressive” views in the morning light.
“It’s a good way to wake up,” he concludes.