PC renewable energy training program in the works

Porterville College is one of four educational institutions benefiting from a clean energy training program grant of $766,000 awarded to the Kern Community College District.

The KCCD grant is part of $27 million distributed through the California Clean Energy Workforce Training Program, the largest state-sponsored green jobs training program in the nation.

The program will train technicians for jobs at wind and solar companies in eastern Kern County.
KCCD associate chancellor for economic and workforce development John Means, along with representatives from the Kern Economic Development corporation, conducted a labor market survey in the early months of 2009 to determine the number of jobs available in the next few years.

“It was clear that there was a need for a qualified work force,” he said.

According to Means, the labor market indicates that more than 2,000 new jobs will be created at wind and solar companies in the region in the next five years.

“Considering there are few new jobs, that’s pretty substantial,” Means said.

PC Dean of Career and Technical Education Bill Henry said he expects people to be “more than willing to participate to take advantage of those jobs.”

Henry emphasized the importance of communication between the colleges that will be setting up training programs.

In addition to PC, the two other KCCD colleges — Bakersfield College and Cerro Coso Community College — will also be participating in the joint venture.

Taft College, though not affiliated with KCCD, is the fourth institution in the consortium.

“We’re all going to have a significant part. We’re all going to be focusing on what we can do to improve the market in our area and to help other campuses as well,” Henry said.

Geography will play a role in the type of program developed at each site; for example, PC administrators say they plan to focus more on solar, instead of wind, energy training.

“We will look at what our area is requiring. We will provide some of the training here and we will work with the other sites in collaborating in putting training programs together,” Henry said.

In addition, the training will be geared primarily toward commercial employment rather than residential work training.

Another draw will be the starting salaries for the renewable energy jobs.

Means expects pay to range from $18 to $23 per hour.

Henry said PC has no current involvement in renewable energy employment training, aside from a small solar component in the college’s industrial maintenance program.

“This is going to be a first for us,” he said.

Partners in the grant, including Southern California Edison, will be beneficiaries of the trainees who will qualify for utility scale work after completion of the core curriculum training.

Henry said the colleges involved in the grant plan to share resources in an effort to “[do] a lot more collaborative work than we ever have in the past.”

He also said PC is looking forward to becoming involved in the recent growth of interest in renewable energy efforts.

“This is the direction we obviously need to go and this is the direction everyone is going throughout the state,” he said.

The first training class will begin Jan. 1, 2010. The program will run through March 2011.

-- Contact Sarah de Crescenzo at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or sdecrescenzo@portervillerecorder.com.