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It’s not out of the ordinary for drivers near East Mill Plain Boulevard and Grand Boulevard to see people wearing hard hats and climbing gear gathered around a steel tower next to the road. These are students, and their training is actually becoming more common.

More students than ever are enrolling at the Northwest Renewable Energy Institute, a program offered by the International Air and Hospitality Academy. A career as a wind turbine technician, with strong starting wages and potential to travel but requiring little education, has made the program grow faster than its culinary, air steward or railroad conducting programs.

Admir Sabic, director of education, said enrollment has doubled in the last two years. “The numbers are pretty spectacular,” he said. “It’s a great way to get a family-wage job.”

Clark County may not have any wind farms nor any large-scale solar projects, but demand is growing for workers in renewable energy. Solar panel installers and wind turbine technicians are the two fastest growing jobs in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local economic development officials have targeted renewable as an industry of the region’s future.

Firms that install solar panels to homes and businesses have seen their workforce and revenues grow, just like enrollment at the International Air and Hospitality Academy’s wind turbine program has climbed. Students are flocking to the school from around the country, said instructor Tom Baurus, and most graduate with jobs lined up, either stationed at a wind farm or traveling from job-to-job, country-to-country.