Sauk waits for OK on wind energy classes

Sauk Valley Community College hopes to introduce a wind energy certificate program by the second semester of the coming year. Students would leave Sauk poised to enter a high-paying, in-demand field: Operations and maintenance of commercial wind turbines. The growth of the wind industry as a whole has just about blown off the charts. At least 14 new turbine manufacturing plants opened last year, as the U.S. installed more than 2,500 new turbines during a record-shattering rush to green electricity. The American Wind Energy Association, a wind-electricity trade organization, estimates that for every 10 to 20 turbines installed, a new full-time maintenance position is created. In Lee and Bureau counties alone, there are nearly 200 turbines pl