NOVA in the News

Sunnyvale Quarterly Report
January 25, 2008

Training the Solar Workforce

The solar technology industry in Silicon Valley is booming. In recent years, California voters passed propositions allocating billions of dollars to clean energy and infrastructure development. This guaranteed funding ensures that these sectors will experience healthy job growth over the coming years.

A healthy workforce, however, is not solely dependent upon job growth; it must also focus on turnover and projected loss of workers. The impending mass retirement of the Baby Boom generation—already begun—has resulted in a situation in which even industries on the decline soon will be in great need of skilled workers. In the clean energy and utilities industries, this is further compounded by the lack of appropriate training programs, which will soon result in serious challenges to filling these critical openings. These workforce issues must be addressed in order to ensure that the region’s blossoming status as a leader in the global solar industry is assured.

In response to this need, an industry-driven regional collaborative has been created to develop a local comprehensive training program. This collaborative, led by De Anza College in Cupertino, consists of community colleges, economic development and workforce development organizations, and most importantly, employers and industry leaders from throughout Silicon Valley. Beginning this spring, classes in solar photovoltaic design and installation will be offered at both San José City College and Cabrillo College in Aptos, with additional services provided by De Anza, Foothill, Mission, Ohlone and West Valley Colleges. The classroom portion of this accelerated program will be complemented with a paid internship component allowing graduates to qualify for entry-level certification from the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners.

In a recent article, the Palo Alto Daily News stated that “new energy workforce training programs might be developed by the University of California and state college systems, but community colleges are the perfect vehicle for this kind of training due to their ability to nimbly respond to technological changes.” With this innovative new training program, this local collaborative hopes to prove this theory correct.
For more information on this groundbreaking program, contact Dr. Kathy Werle, San José City College’s dean of applied sciences, at 408-288-3781.

About NOVA | What's New | Job Seekers | Business Community
Youth | Labor Market Info | Contact Us | Home