The solar industry finds an untapped workforce

The growing solar industry needs more workers equipped to get panels into fields and onto roofs. Meanwhile, disinvested populations — including communities of color and formerly incarcerated people — often lack access to such jobs.

An Illinois program aims to tackle both of those problems at once — and goes beyond a few months of training to ensure workers have everything they need to succeed, Audrey Henderson reports for the Energy News Network.

With funding from community solar developer Cultivate Power, the Chicago-based Renewing Sovereignty Program works with a training partner to provide a 13-week solar installation program for people leaving the criminal justice system. Last year’s cohort of 12 trainees all got jobs in solar and related industries. Jacqueline Williams, who works with a social services organization that administers RSP, said this year’s 18 cohorts are on track for similar results.

RSP’s holistic approach to jobs training is a big reason for that success.

“Anything that you can think of that would prevent someone from being successful in a really intensive 13-week program, we’re going to assess that barrier and we’re going to provide it,” Williams told ENN. That includes housing, food, child care and transportation — and that support continues for a year after trainees graduate.

In turn, those newly trained solar workers are helping Illinois meet its ambitious clean energy and climate goals. Read more about RSP’s solar training success at the Energy News Network.

More clean energy news

🐢 Hydrogen’s holdup: Uncertainty surrounding federal tax credit rules has left the clean hydrogen industry stuck in neutral, but experts say the delay is providing much-needed time to figure out the best uses for the fuel. (Canary Media) 

🪧 Who’s behind anti-protest laws: Records reveal how fossil fuel lobbyists worked with state lawmakers to craft anti-protest laws that increase penalties for non-violent participants and aim to quiet opposition to fossil fuel infrastructure. (The Guardian)

🚘 City charging deserts: Rideshare drivers are adopting electric vehicles at five times the rate of other drivers but say they’re struggling to find places to charge in major cities. (Axios)

🥵 Heat waves: Advocates sound the alarm over a lack of policies stopping utilities from shutting off customers’ power for nonpayment during deadly heat waves. (The Guardian)

👷 Building a clean workforce: The governors of 22 states launch an initiative aimed at getting 1 million residents to complete climate-related apprenticeships by 2035, pledging to set up funding and partnerships to expand the clean energy workforce. (The Hill)

🌡️ Hands-on grid management: Utility customers around the country are signing up for programs to save money in return for allowing power companies to remotely adjust their thermostats to manage grid demand. (Washington Post)

⚛️ Nuclear resurgence: The Energy Department approves a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to restart the closed Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, part of a resurgence of interest in nuclear power in the U.S. (New York Times) 

🇺🇲 Plus, some politics