Job Highlight - Wind Energy Manager
Carrie Mesrobian
The Journey
In a serene, open office on the third floor of the Wyman building in downtown Minneapolis, Brenna Gunderson is working on wind energy.
Looking around the recently established Minneapolis office of Horizon Wind, the third largest wind developer in the world, a multitude of preparations are being carried out in order to bring wind energy to the marketplace.
Yet, starting out, Gunderson would never have guessed she would be a part of the energy industry. With a degree in Psychology and Family Resources from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, Gunderson had different plans.
“I was planning to work toward becoming a Licensed Psychologist,” she recalls. But a few interim jobs she had between college and graduate school gave her a glimpse at working in a business environment and a sense that she would be successful in that area. Working for various companies, she found she was able to learn quickly.
“I would take an office job, as a temp, and then quickly work my way up,” Gunderson explains.
“I was always getting promoted. But I never saw it as something about me, necessarily,” she says with a laugh. “I would just do my job, you know? Just do what I was asked, what they expected of me.”
This simple mantra led to a pattern, where Gunderson would start at an entry level in an industry she was unfamiliar with – DSL installation, in one instance – and then prove to her supervisors she was competent and organized to take on more complicated tasks.
Despite these successes in the business field, Gunderson decided her interests lay in psychology. She completed her degree in Counseling and Psychological Services at St. Mary’s in Rochester, going on to an internship at a nonprofit agency that involved helping people learn independent living skills.
Though she continued to be promoted at the nonprofit agency and she was able to use her counseling training, she wasn’t sure that the social services field was the right fit.
“Things were okay, but it was really a conversation I had with a friend of mine who works at Cargill that made me consider entering the business world again,” Gunderson remembers. “I realized that I enjoy organized work, checking tasks off a list, watching things progress every day. Counseling people, helping them achieve personal goals - this progress can be difficult to measure, and can be a lot less obvious.”
Gunderson was also becoming unsure if she was using her people skills in the wrong field.
“I like people, and getting to know people,” she says. “That part was enjoyable. But the fact that I wouldn’t know if I accomplished anything on a day-to-day basis was something I wasn’t sure I could accept for the rest of my life.”
The appeal of psychology had lessened for her the more she studied the subject, as well.
“Psychology was always this big mystery to me,” Gunderson explains. “I’ve always been very interested in human behavior. But the more you study it, and come to learn how people are diagnosed, that mystery is taken away from it.”
Gunderson’s friend encouraged her to put her organization skills and willingness to meet her employer’s basic demands to the test. She set out to find an entry-level opportunity, in a business environment, which culminated with landing a position as a project coordinator for Horizon Wind.
The Work
When Gunderson came aboard as a project coordinator for Horizon Wind, she knew little about wind power but figured she could be a quick study as she had in past positions.
“My tendency has been to start a job at my comfort level – administrative stuff, for instance - and then proceed up from there,” she says.
As a project coordinator in a satellite office in the town of Grand Meadow, MN, Gunderson learned the ropes quickly.
“There were just two of us in the office,” she says. “So I had to learn a little of this and little of that, be a catchall. I answered phones, met with landowners, everything.”
Horizon Wind works extensively with landowners in areas where the wind patterns are amenable to power transmission.
“You need three components to develop wind energy,” Gunderson explains. “Wind, landowners and transmission.”
Once wind patterns are established in areas where transmission lines exist (or will exist in the near future), Horizon Wind works with the landowners in that area to set up legal agreements for construction of wind turbines and lease payments for use of that land.
As a project manager, Gunderson works directly with landowners to explain all the legal information in leasing their land to Horizon, which takes her all over the state of Minnesota.
“I spend a lot of time out in the field, in living rooms and kitchens of landowners on a regular basis,” Gunderson says.
Working with the landowners, most of whom are farmers, is her favorite part of her job.
“The landowners are very down-to-earth, and they are great business people,” she reports.
When developing a wind project in a new area, Horizon Wind uses county maps and data to identify landowners (who are usually soybean or corn farmers in the Upper Midwest).
A local event is planned where landowners are invited to come and learn about the company and talk more with company representatives about details.
Because wind is an increasingly popular energy alternative and a secure means of income for farmers, many companies are in competition for establishing leases with landowners in desirable areas.
This is where Gunderson’s background in counseling and psychology come into play.
“It’s not really sales,” she says. “It’s more establishing a relationship, educating the landowners as to what is going to happen. The way that a farmer feels about their land is something that most of us never can understand. They want to know exactly what is going to happen, because it is a huge decision, one that will most likely affect their heirs.”
Generally, operating a wind farm only requires a small parcel of land, ensuring that farmers can still grow other crops if they wish. Having an additional income from the wind farm’s land lease payments is very advantageous for farmers, who are often looking for a stable income amidst the risky reality of farming..
“This is a guaranteed payment for them, regardless of whether the wind blows,” Gunderson states. “We take on all the risk.”
As she continued learning and growing in her position with Horizon Wind, Gunderson was lucky enough to be able to see an entire wind farm, the Prairie Star Wind Farm, develop from start to finish. Details on that project, a 100 megawatt wind farm in Mower County, can be found here:
http://www.horizonwind.com/projects/whatwevedone/prairiestar.aspx
But Gunderson’s work is not limited to establishing close relationships with landowners. As a project manager, her role is to be involved in all aspects of the development of the wind farm.
Before construction can happen, environmental studies must be made of the land in question.
“We need to determine if it will be sustainable, if the land is historical in some way, if bird migration will be interrupted, if endangered species are in the area,” Gunderson says. Consulting with the Department of Natural Resources and even the Army Corps of Engineers is often required before a project can move forward.
“It’s about being an orchestrator of many different departments,” she says. “Civil and electrical engineers, construction workers, the purchase and transport of the turbine, the legal aspect, tracking payments, leases, paperwork for all parties. I’ve got my Blackberry with me constantly.”
To see an abbreviated list of the wind farm development process, visit:
http://www.horizonwind.com/projects/developingawindfarm.aspx
For more information on the construction of a wind farm, visit:
http://www.iseek.org/sv/futureWork?outId=37&fwa=fw/fw6637.jsp&id=6637
The Rewards
Working for an emerging industry is exciting for Gunderson, because she is always learning.
“The industry is really growing,” she says. “When I started in 2006, I would say that most people weren’t talking about being “green” or hadn’t ever seen a wind farm. But now you can’t find anybody who hasn’t seen a turbine going down the highway on a truck or in a photograph. With gas prices and our dependence on foreign oil, everyone seems to be on this path.”
Wind energy has been present as an alternative in California since 1980s, but in the 2000’s, its profile has increased dramatically.
Because the technology is always changing, Gunderson says that it’s hard to predict the future. But Horizon Wind is keen to educate its employees in the ongoing developments of the field.
“Internally, they offer classes – Wind 101 – where new hires can learn about what’s happening,” Gunderson says.
Horizon also offers health and retirement benefits, tuition reimbursement and paid time off. Gunderson is a salaried employee, and does not belong to a union.
The company also promotes public transportation and recycling efforts, and also offers wind energy education programs for local schools.
“It’s a company with a lot of integrity,” Gunderson says. “Which is important for people who work with us. Farmers like the idea of wind energy. They love being able to be a part of a green solution.”
Your Decision
Wind power is the fastest growing source of electricity in the world right now, and wind developers like Horizon Wind are on the move looking for people with a diverse array of talent and experience.
“You don’t necessarily need to have a background in wind to work for a company like Horizon,” Gunderson says.
People with experience in business, project management or real estate are also sought after, as well as those with traditional science degrees in environmental studies, chemistry, or engineering.
Good companies have a mix of people who are able to communicate in different ways to the landowners who are partners in the developing wind farms.
“Some landowners don’t want to learn about the project in very technical terms,” Gunderson says. “Others really want to know.”
“The legal piece is also huge,” Gunderson adds. “Paralegal experience, real estate law – people with those backgrounds have some good transferrable skills in wind.”
And the future?
“We’re probably at a fraction of where we’ll be in the next fifteen years,” Gunderson predicts. She herself is involved in learning about new computer mapping techniques, such as geographic information systems ( GIS) and integrated software that assists in capturing data specific to the wind farm locations Horizon Wind is looking to develop.
Gunderson’s advice for those looking into the field is to get a feel for the projects in development at present. A list of websites she recommends for those interested in learning more about the industry are below.
The American Wind Energy Association: http://www.awea.org/
Wind Power Monthly: http://www.windpower-monthly.com/
National Renewable Energy Laboratory: http://www.nrel.gov/
Do you have good people skills, organizational talent and perhaps a scientific background, too? A curious mind open to learning about new technologies and a passion for creating a greener, more sustainable future for our planet?
Perhaps the rapidly developing industry of wind energy could propel your next career move.
