In early 2015, the IBEW/NECA Technical Institute in Alsip, Ill., started building a 250-acre on-site facility, the Renewable Energy Training Field (RETF). The RETF is designed to provide training and support to electrical contractors for renewable smart-grid applications, including industrial, commercial, municipal and residential applications of solar and wind.


The facility, which opened in September, features a 100-kilowatt (kW) bidirectional inverter that charges a 45-kilowatt-hour (kWh) lithium-ion battery system and a 45-kWh lead-acid battery, a 45-kW fixed-tilt ground-mount photovoltaic (PV) system that simulates a utility installation, an 18-kW solar carport with four electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, a 10-kW roof-mounted solar system with monitoring, a 5-kW Bergey wind turbine, a 4-kW solar-power system on a standing-seam metal roof, a 4-kW solar-power system on a composite-shingle roof, and a 3-kW solar-power system with a dual-axis tracker and Enphase microinverters. It also features a 100-foot-tall cell tower for climbing and mounting antennae, a 75-foot-tall miniature turbine, and a 60-foot-tall tower to practice working with wind turbines.


The RETF is particularly useful because the site provides classroom and hands-on training and simulations for electricians. For example, students can remove, cut, reweld, and reinstall solar panels; make adjustments to wind generators based on given site requirements; learn battery-storage techniques; and understand energy-transfer systems that will help customers shave peak energy costs.


The site is also set up as a research and development center, allowing electrical contractors to engineer and demonstrate client-site applications at the site before installation and providing students with hands-on training on the projects.


The RETF additionally works as a demonstration site in that it allows the public to see renewable technologies and systems first hand and learn how they can benefit from them in their own homes and businesses.


Finally, the RETF is designed to be a net-zero-energy facility. In fact, the on-site solar, wind and battery systems generate and store enough energy to completely power the facility, and actually generate more energy than is needed, allowing it to sell some back to the grid.