Florence-Darlington offers Pipe Welding Academy

Florence-Darlington Technical College’s Advanced Welding and Cutting Center can now offer a Pipe Welding Academy to help meet the increasing demand for pipe welders in the power industry, thanks to a $60,000 grant from Progress Energy.

Santee Cooper also donated $10,000 to be used for students’ tuition, according to college officials.

“The Pipe Welding Academy is extremely valuable to Progress Energy, particularly at our power plants like the Robinson Nuclear Plant,” Emerson Gower, vice president of Progress Energy’s Southern Region, said in a press release. “We continually recruit from Florence-Darlington Technical College because they produce graduates that have the training and expertise needed to succeed in our culture of excellence.”

The academy starts in July and will produce 50 certified pipe welders a year, according to a press release issued by the college.

Ross Gandy, director of the college’s Advanced Welding and Cutting Center, said Progress Energy and others are funding the academy because of a shortage of qualified pipe welders.

Gandy said employers have to hire pipe welders from outside the area to fill the positions. He said pipe welders are needed to handle the outages at different power plants, particularly in a nuclear facility.

With the creation of the academy, employers can hire local welders, which would in turn help the state’s economy, he said.

The academy will function as an open enrollment program for existing welders, which would allow them to start any time during the year.

Students must pass an entrance test to demonstrate their ability to advance from basic welding to advanced pipe welding.

If the participant passes the test to get into the academy, tuition for the academy is free, Gandy said.

Gandy said existing welders must be skilled in TIG and ARC welding.

Once enrolled, the students must pass the academic and lab sections of the academy, and pass a certification test.

It may take a student between six weeks and six months to complete the training and tests, depending on the student’s welding knowledge and ability, according to the release.

“Pipe welding is one of the most difficult types of welding and is also one of the highest paid welding positions,” he said. “It’s a very good position for a person to be in because anyone that can pipe weld can do all the other types of welding.”

Florence-Darlington Technical College President Dr. Charles Gould said pipe welders always have been in demand, but the demand is increasing “radically.”

“With the explosion in nuclear energy construction, those type of welders are absolutely essential to that kind of construction,” Gould said.

He said the college has wanted to offer the program, but needed the funds to purchase the expensive equipment used for the program.

Now that local power companies have made the donations, the college is able to help meet the demands of the industry.

“We’re very pleased to be doing this,” Gould said. “We’ve been waiting on the funds (and) we’re ready to go.”

For details on the academy, call (843) 413-2720.