Toronto, Ontario, Sep 26, 2001
A $4.5-million investment launches TransAlta epiCentre, a new Centre of Technology Development for electrical power industry at SAIT
The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) will receive the largest cash investment in the institution's 85-year history through a partnership with Calgary-based TransAlta. TransAlta is taking a proactive and leading industry role to maintain and build a well trained and competitive power engineering workforce. The $4.5-million investment will be used to build the TransAlta Electrical Power Industry Centre (epiCentre) and to revise and develop power engineering curriculum.
Opening at SAIT in late 2002, TransAlta epiCentre will focus on training and instructional excellence in conventional and alternate sources of power generation. It will provide day program, distance and mid-career learners with a world class and leading edge training environment using state-of-the-art technology and curriculum. It will contain 10 new power and electrical engineering technology labs and classrooms with remote linkages to industry sites.
"The TransAlta epiCentre will have an immediate and a long-term impact on leading-edge power engineering curriculum, training, evaluation and certification," said Irene Lewis, SAIT president. "As partners, TransAlta and SAIT will play a pivotal role in transforming learning as well as building careers and business."
"TransAlta is taking the leading industry role to build a world-class power engineering school," said Steve Snyder, TransAlta president and CEO. "This will help develop the skilled workforce we need to grow our power generation capacity and to manage our assets well into the future."
Of the $4.5 million investment, SAIT will use $3 million to build the TransAlta epiCentre and will allocate $1.5 million to the SAIT managed Power Engineering Joint Venture to revise and develop the third through first class power engineering curriculum. The SAIT-led Joint Venture is comprised of SAIT, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and Burnaby-based British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). In the Joint Venture, SAIT, NAIT and BCIT are developing and marketing Power Engineering multimedia products throughout Canada and the world.
SAIT, Canada's first publicly funded post-secondary technical institute, offers four applied degrees, 16 certificate programs, 47 diploma programs, 5 IT Fast Tracks, 25 apprenticeships, 14 pre-employment programs and 1,038 continuing education courses through seven academic departments. SAIT provides students with training in leading edge technology while providing the opportunity for industry to train employees in to-day's dynamic global marketplace.
TransAlta is Canada's largest non-regulated electric generation and marketing company, with more than $7 billion in assets and 8,000 megawatts of capacity. As one of North America's lowest cost operators, our growth is focused on developing coal and gas-fired generation in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.
SAIT's Vision - By 2010, SAIT will be recognized nationally as Canada's premier institute of advanced technology, among a handful of the world's finest, setting the standard for excellence in education, training and innovation. |
