Northern Maine Community College is jumping on the clean power bandwagon by creating a wind power technology program.  The program will now also have backing from an area business, Larkin Enterprises Inc., which will provide paid internships to students enrolled in the program.

The Bangor Daily News reports, “Officials from NMCC said they were inspired to create the program in light of the growing interest in wind power and NMCC’s proximity to the state’s first commercial wind farm just 14 miles from the campus in Mars Hill.”

“This agreement is all about giving students an opportunity to get into this industry,” NMCC President Tim Crowley said Thursday. “These internships will help our students get connected with companies that will be working in this industry for years to come.”

Forty students are currently enrolled in the original associate degree program, which was launched last year to train wind power technicians to operate, maintain and repair wind turbine generators.

The associate degree and internships will give students the credentials to vie for the anticipated 50 to 80 new, long-term, high-wage technical positions college officials anticipate in Aroostook County between 2009 and 2012.

Larkin Enterprises hired three interns from NMCC over the summer and anticipates hiring more qualified students in the future.

Additional employment opportunities are anticipated in neighboring northern Washington County, Franklin County in Western Maine, and in Canada’s Atlantic Provinces.

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