Survey Says: 5,400 training for solar careers this year in CA

04:03 PM Jun 25, 2009

There is a lot of talk about green job training these days, but ask
around and nobody seems to be able to give a clear picture of who is
being trained and where.  So I decided that this was worth
investigating.   After a lot of phone calls to busy solar instructors
across the state, I published my findings in this report.  Survey
says: in 2009 alone, at least 5,400 people are training at 27 programs
throughout the state for a career in solar.

Who are all these Californians signing up for classes at night,
weekends or weeklong seminars?  They are construction workers and
tradesmen faced with work slowdowns, laid-off engineers aiming to
increase the value of their skill set, professionals looking for a
more promising career path, and fresh highschool graduates just
getting started in the working world.  They are also disadvantaged
community members trying to a get leg up and earn a good living.  They
are 5000 plus people with hopes and expectations of getting a job in
the solar industry.

Instructors and program administrators told stories of immense and
rising demand for solar training.  David McFeeley of SolarTech.org,
recalled the first session of a course at a Silicon Valley community
college.  He described the anticipatory, almost tense atmosphere as
200 people filed into a room for a course with 66 seats.  People want
to work in solar.

I was most moved by stories of students from the East Los Angeles
Skill Center, an adult education school within LA Unified School
District.  Since 2005, Brian Hurd has instructed hands-on solar
installation and design.  His students range from ex-felons to PhDs.
He has a lot to be proud of.  That 17 of the course's 20 students
recently passed the NABCEP certification, a qualification that only
710 people in the country are claim. And his 100 hour course has a
year and a half waiting list.   And the success of his “homegirl”- a
female ex-con from his “Homeboy Industries” class of convicted felons
- who passed NABCEP on her first try.  And the widow with no previous
trade experience who took his course nicknamed SolarMom.  She now runs
her own company and just completed an installation on a school in
Nicaragua.

My survey revealed that there is in fact quite a lot of solar training
underway in the state. Training institutions of all kinds have stepped
up to arm a new workforce with the skills they need to thrive in the
growing solar industry. I expect to see many more programs come into
existence with the millions of stimulus dollars designated for green
job training.

It is clear that we need to do all that we can to build sustainable
solar markets, remove regulatory barriers and lay the necessary
groundwork so there are solar jobs waiting when these trainees enter
the workforce. On the immediate horizon is the threat of the looming
net metering cap - a limit on California rooftop solar growth that
we're expected to hit next year unless legislators pass AB 560. The
bill would raise the net metering cap from 2.5% to 10%, allowing
continued solar market growth and green job creation.   Net metering
is so important to solar jobs that many of the program instructors I
talked to signed a letter in support of AB 560.

Now when I spend my days advocating for bigger, self-sustaining solar
programs, I think about the real people who are counting on Vote
Solar’s ability to bring solar into the mainstream.  It just makes
Vote Solar’s mission seem all the more important.

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