The Prince Albert Campus of Saskatchewan Polytechnic is home to a training opportunity for six students from Frog Lake First Nation in Alberta for the next two weeks.
Sask Polytech is providing two weeks of renewable energy training to six members of Frog Lake First Nation. This training is part of a program with QUEST Canada-Quality Urban Energy Systems of Tomorrow.
Scott Lipsit, the Academic Chair for Technology and Skilled Trades at the Prince Albert Sask Polytech Campus, said Frog Lake has entered into a partnership with QUEST.
“There is sort of a facilitator for these programs where Sask Polytech is a provider of that training,” Lipsit said. “They want people who are capable of planning and implementing renewable or alternative energy solutions to support their energy grids in northern, remote, typically Indigenous communities and those include power, solar, geothermal and biomass boilers.”
Lipsit said the Prince Albert campus’ role is to provide the training in those alternative energy solutions. The training includes safety aspects, like proper use of personal protective equipment.
Greg Bell, the program head for the electrical program that looks after apprenticeship and introductory electrical courses, said the trainees have a basic understanding of what solar is. Their goal over the next two weeks is to build on that.
“What we’re doing is showing the safety of the equipment, how to properly see it installed, how to test equipment, and how do you store that,” Bell explained. “You’re capturing an energy source. How do we store it? How do we take that energy and put it into use into their infrastructure?”
The course started on October 28. Bell said it has been going well thus far as students learn electrical theory.
“They are learning how to test using different types of electrical equipment, Volt meters current to understand what they’re reading, and then next week we are going to be on the renewable energy simulators where we can simulate solar charging and wind charging,” he said
Bell added that the simulator shows the students how solar and wind energy work in real time.
“We have simulator there so they can see the energy being captured. We’re going to store it in batteries and then we can put it back into equipment,” he explained.
Lipsit said that QUEST came to Sask Polytech Prince Albert because they were trying to match the Indigenous power authorities with a regional educator or provider. Frog Lake is located just past the Alberta border near Cold Lake.
“Frog Lake isn’t that far down the road and it was as simple for them to come to Prince Albert Campus, so they’re doing the matching of geographic and regional hooking up,” Lipsit said.
Bell explained that Sask Polytech is supporting the program with in kind use of the technology that is available to keep the cost reasonable.
“We’re being able to supply them, instead of having to come with all of their meters, their equipment, or being able to use that, use some of our teaching learning modules and whatnot to help them,” Lipsit said.
“We have everything, so it’s trying to make it so they can learn about the renewable energy and going forward.”
This specific segment of training will be 10 days on campus and a weekend at Hannin Creek Education Centre.
Lipsit explained that the program really keeps in line with Sask Poltech’s vision.
“The in kind training that Saskatchewan Polytech is providing is in line with our strategy and our goals, our vision of meeting sustainability with Indigenous partners and communities,” Lipsit said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
