Green energy needs to start early to recruit workers, House panel says
Creating a ready-and-able workforce to usher the United States into its green energy future will require reaching out to the nation’s youth as early as their first school field trips, industry witnesses told a congressional hearing.
The push to fire-up students about future careers in science and technology has been focused primarily on life sciences and computers, but should also spotlight the “cool” factor of the overall energy industry in order to inspire kids to enlist in the field.
“It starts when they are very young and we need to get to them early,” said Exelon Utilities Senior Executive Vice President and CEO Anne Pramaggiore.
Pramaggiore was part of a panel testifying Feb. 27 before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy about the Blue Collar to Green Collar Jobs Development Act of 2019, H.R. 1315, a measure aimed at increasing access to the training necessary to secure a job in the growing green energy field. She and other witnesses were largely in agreement that as the workforce in the wind and solar industries grows by double-digit percentages, there was a vital need for more workers with varied technical and trade skills.
The deployment of new wind and solar power generation will create new jobs across the entire nation that will include not only college-degree engineering and data-analysis positions, but also blue-collar skills involving installation and maintenance of generating equipment as well as the electrical grid itself.
A key, however, is getting prospective future employees to consider working at a utility company or an energy producer, and familiarizing students with tours of related companies and ambitious summer learning programs launched in their communities. “Bring them in in the summer and give them access to experiential learning, and let them know that these jobs are out there,” Pramaggiore said. “They will meet with professionals that they can relate to and who will work with them.”
Once comfortable with the energy industry, at least some students will be aware that a job in energy is an option as they head into high school, college, vocational training and even the military.
“The energy industry has a business imperative to help lead workforce development efforts in these fast-growing, well-paying fields and to support programs that will produce the next generation of workers,” Pramaggiore said.
Exelon and its roster of utilities have already begun reaching out to the impressionable youth of Chicago and Washington, D.C. with programs that highlight their work in their respective communities.
The Blue Collar to Green Collar Jobs Development Act would reauthorize and expand the Department of Energy’s Office of Minority Economic Impact to improve the education and training of currently underrepresented groups for employment in energy-related industries. Specifically, it would direct assistance to educational institutions, nonprofits and workforce development boards, establish a grant program to help eligible businesses pay for employees to receive renewable energy and energy efficiency training, and establish a clearinghouse of information and resources for those seeking energy-related jobs, according to lawmakers.
In 2017, the energy and energy efficiency sectors accounted for nearly 7 percent of nationwide job creation, and the United States now ranks second globally for energy investment, according to a committee background memo.
“The energy workforce in our country is growing, particularly in the areas of wind energy, energy efficiency and grid modernization,” said U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “Our challenge is to ensure the appropriate training and educational opportunities are available to workers who can fill these jobs.”
Although the bill’s author, Energy Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush (D-IL), represents a chunk of South Chicago, the nature of the energy industry means the need for workers is basically nationwide. Training and jobs can be spread out rather than concentrated around technology hubs, such as Silicon Valley or the Seattle area.
Some members of the subcommittee from rural or coal-dependent districts asked about displaced workers having to pack up and move in order to find green energy training and possibly lower-paying jobs that may not even be available.
“The intention of the bill is that we would be training people in their communities, so people in Pennsylvania or West Virginia would absolutely have the opportunity to participate,” Leticia Colon de Mejias, CEO of Energy Efficiencies Solutions, LLC, told the panel. “And for the people who are displaced workers, it would be to train them to take jobs that already exist.”
The Blue Collar to Green Collar Jobs Development Act was introduced Feb. 22 and is being considered by both the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee.
