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These are exciting times for the renewable energy industry. The growth of the industry is impressive. The recent signing into law of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 has done a couple of things to jumps start the industry. For one, it provided the much needed certainty to developers and investors on what the way ahead would be for the various incentives needed to make investments viable such as investment and production tax credits (IRA, 2022). The law also paved the way for new entrants into the industry resulting in a major challenge for all, the need for skilled personnel to work in the industry and the competition for those them.
I recently attended the American Clean Power (ACP) Operations & Maintenance & Safety Conference in Orlando, FL. One of the key challenges highlighted was the potential shortage of skill labor to support the in renewables industry. It is projected that over 400,000 will be needed by 2030 (ACP O&M & Safety, 2023) prompting a major call to action of all in attendance. The solution to this challenge will need to be strategic and sustained for the long term. It will require relationships through strategic partnerships and a willingness to invest time and resources in the development of people. For many best in class organizations, this is already being done, we will just need more to follow suit. "broader audience will be required to think differently and establish new business relationships that they may not have considered previously" Partnerships Partnerships will be required with talent producing institutions, in particular technical trade schools such ad Texas State Technical College in Waco, TX and Danville Community College in Danville, VA. There are numerous others out there. Once we identify them, hiring managers such as myself must sit with program chairs to assess the curriculum to see if the subjects covered in the program support our industry needs. If they do not, then we must request membership on their industry advisory boards that solicit input from our industry and make our needs known. They will accommodate us and with the funding made available in the IRA, there is now financial support available to help strengthen and add training resources to their programs. Programs such as TSC have a strong hands-on component. The graduates of these programs have the basic foundation to start a career in the industry, but we cannot stop there. We must build upon that foundation. Training Development Once we bring the new technicians onboard for their first job, we will need to continue their development through relevant hands[1]on training in systems, LOTO, key repairs, fault isolation, testing, etc. My organization is building a regional training towards this end. We must accept that this will take some time, but when done properly and the individuals are properly incentivized, the return on investment will be significant. Some like to note the risk of investing all that time and energy into someone only to have them leave to go somewhere else. To those, I say duly noted, but the risk from doing nothing is a far more scary risk to me as an organizational leader. I also believe leaders have a lot of control over some of the variables that go into a decision to leave a company (compensation, growth, culture, etc.) Our industry faces a huge challenge. A broader audience will be required to think differently and establish new business relationships that they may not have considered previously. Again, these are exciting times for the industry with huge challenges, I am confident that we all can and will rise to meet the challenge.
