TJC Energy Center Holds Grand Opening

TYLER — The Tyler Junior College West Campus Energy Center held its grand opening Thursday morning. Remarks were offered by TJC President Dr. Mike Metke, Smith County Judge Joel Baker, Tyler Mayor Martin Heines, and Tyler Economic Development Council Board Chair/TJC Trustee Lonny Uzzell. According to information from the college, construction began in February 2014 on the new workforce-training center to serve the area’s growing energy sector and address other industry needs. The Energy Center is a $7.56 million, three-story addition to the Skills Training Center on the TJC West Campus. Funded primarily through tax increment financing, the center expands some of the existing programs and adds new ones.

The 51,000-plus square-foot addition features labs for heating/ventilation/air conditioning training, power plant technology, and computers. A large assembly room and nine classrooms for alternative energy programs are also located there. The Energy Center houses facilities and training for three major areas: power production, energy extraction and process industry, according to a project plan. The associate’s degrees and certificates that fall under these categories are ammonia certification (requested by Brookshire Grocery Co.); biomedical equipment repair; geothermal, industrial electrical maintenance; instrument and control; mechanical, robotic and automated systems; and solar and wind.