ATTE Programs Help Fuel Expansion for Solar Provider
According to the California Energy Commission, electrical providers in California are required to source 33 percent of the electricity they sell to customers from renewable sources by 2020. This creates multiple opportunities for energy companies such as First Solar, a provider of comprehensive solar energy systems. The company is under contract to construct the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, which was recently purchased by NextEra Energy Resources and GE Energy Financial Services, and is being built on 3,700 acres of public land about 50 miles east of Indio, CA. This project, one of the first large energy projects in Southern California, is projected to employ up to 400 workers per year, and 630 workers at peak construction, which is not scheduled to end until 2015.
To ensure that desert communities, and indeed the state of California, fully benefit economically from these clean energy projects, the Advanced Transportation Technology & Energy (ATTE) Initiative at College of the Desert has partnered with First Solar and other utility-scale solar energy companies to develop and deliver workforce training for this emerging industry. ATTE is currently providing training in Palm Springs with funding from the EWD initiative, Employment Development Department, and California Energy Commission. Additionally, the ATTE Center has provided support to Palo Verde Community College in Blythe, and Barstow Community College in Barstow, to establish this training in other neighboring communities.
"The three partner colleges are strategically located to train workers for projects in California's key solar resource areas," says ATTE Director at College of the Desert Larry McLaughlin. "We also work closely with the local Workforce Investment Boards to enroll unemployed workers into the program, and with the regional trade unions and their apprenticeship programs, as many projects will be staffed through project labor agreements."
Peter Mayo, a COD ATTE training graduate who is now on the job at Desert Sunlight, puts a high value on the training he received. He was quoted in a recent article in the Desert Sun: "[The ATTE training program] laid the groundwork for what we're doing now. The theory is very important. You can come out here and [just put] posts in the ground, or you can understand you're part of the largest thin-film solar project in the world. That gives you a different outlook on what you're doing."
For more information on establishing business and industry partnerships with ATTE to help fuel expansion at your company, visit http://www.attecolleges.org/ or contact statewide director Peter Davis at (619) 473-0090 or pdavis@cccewd.net.
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