Job Training Partnership Opens Doors for Solar Trainees

Job openings have been a bit slow of late, given the recession and wintry weather, but it doesn’t take much of a pickup in business to create imbalance between jobs in line to be completed and the skilled workers necessary to get that work done. So groSolar, a leading solar installer, and One Block Off the Grid (1BOG), the famed community-buying organization, have combined to form a job training partnership program that puts job prospects onto solar rooftops and provides installers with an opportunity to teach their skills and gain some cheap labor.

A pilot program in Richmond, California, called Solar Richmond, has been successful and 1BOG and groSolar (installation partner on 1BOG projects) are looking to expand to other communities. Participants attend a series of construction, energy efficiency and solar training programs. Upon graduation from the program, they are placed in temporary, paid, on-the-job training programs.

1BOG, groSolar and the homeowners purchasing a given solar array each contribute to the cost of paying for the trainee’s wages. In the case of 20-year-old Clifton Broussard, as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, the three parties paid $112 each to pay for Clifton’s experience. While the job is only temporary, it helps to ensure that he will step to the front of the line when the need for help picks up which, said groSolar CEO Jeff Wolfe, is an inevitability.

The Solar Richmond program is part of an overall community-building effort from 1BOG and its partners. It is an effort to maintain a self-sustaining local solar industry, where solar installations in a city will have maximum positive impact in that community. A well-trained, skilled workforce is vital to achieving that goal.

And the installers have no problem passing off their valuable experience and knowledge to a new set of solar workers. Any employer knows the value of finding an employee with an already established set of skills, as training is a major cost to employers in any industry.

Since Solar Richmond started training in August of 2007, some 90 graduates have sought careers in solar installation. 23 have landed permanent jobs and another 32 have found temporary work as extra help for solar contractors. If that success seem moderate, bear in mind that these trainees were looking for work during the darkest times the solar industry has seen since it took off early last decade. The majority of the students have found at least some work, and they are now part of a growing but still small skill set and industry that is destined to continue rising, with 2010 expected by many to be a breakout year for solar power.

Photo Credit: Climate Change Action

Posted on March 31st in Solar News by Dan.