Tag Archives: The Solar Foundation

The Solar Foundation Releases Its Solar Workforce Development Toolkit

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

We can all agree that the solar industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States, right? Heck, The Solar Foundation tells us so every year with its National Solar Jobs Census (well, except for this year, because tariffs, but for the past decade or so it’s been on a huge growth trajectory – and we believe will shortly be again). But how can you find workers for this specialized industry and bring them into this well-paying career?

Well, the trick is workforce development, and now The Solar Foundation has released a 94-page Solar Workforce Development Toolkit designed to help solar companies develop their workforces with a series a proven strategies that every business can implement in their day-to-day business practices.

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According to the Foundation, the document is intended to start conversations among employers, with engagement from all stakeholders.The implementation guide and action plan promotecollaborative, regional and adaptive strategies as markets evolve and solar continues to become a mainstream part of the American energy sector.

In the toolkit, solar employers will discover the tools they need to establish the kinds of community partnerships necessary to build a diverse talent pipeline. It shows solar employers how to turn the industry from just a “job” into a career, outlining ways to integrate solar into the public workforce development system and provides strategies to overcome real or perceived challenges. Finally, it will show employers hot to implement work-based learning models to invest in the skillsets of current and future workers.

Based on two years of Solar Training Network research that included talking to employers, trainers, industry associations and community organizations in diverse solar markets, it’s expected to giver solar employers the tools and skills they need to meet the high demand for qualified employees and build a skilled and diverse solar workforce.

The release comes approximately one year after The Solar Foundation released its first-ever diversity study, which found the industry was doing a poor job of recruiting from non-traditional solar audiences. The toolkit is the first concrete proposal to improve that diversity and widen solar’s appeal as a future profession.

State-Level Solar Data Provides Hours Of Fun

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened: The Solar Foundation released its follow-up to the National Solar Jobs Census 2017 in the form of its interactive state map, which:

  • provides a remarkably detailed look at how solar is affecting the lives of people in your Congressional District.
  • offers a historical look at the data for the same area.
  • gives more granular detail on how solar is providing jobs and economic impacts on people – which can be used to inform lobbying efforts.

SolarWakeup’s View:  Well, I know how I’ll be spending every waking moment this weekend – looking at The Solar Foundation’s (TSF) state-level solar data on their interactive state solar map (hey, I’m practically an elderly shut-in, don’t judge).

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I remember the first time they released this information. I literally spent hours looking at Cuyahoga County, where I live in Ohio. Specifically, I looked at the 11th District (which in The Hunger Games produced the fruit of Panem, which is clearly not happening in Cleveland, though I live across from an area that USED to be an apple orchard and is now a medical center … but I digress) and poured over the numbers so I’d be better prepared to talk solar with my state and federal representatives on the subject.

Look, I’ve talked about this before, but the solar industry does an incredibly poor job of mobilizing the general public to fight its fights on the state and local level. But when I look at this map, I’m confounded by why that is.

This could be such a powerful tool to mobilize the Solar Army I’ve written about before. The information from this map proves solar is having tangible, real-life effects in almost every Congressional district in the country, and if you don’t think politicians will listen to their constituents if their offices are flooded with pro-solar calls, you’re mistaken. We’ve already seen it work on other issues in the country. It can work for solar, too.

(If you’re listening, Andrea Luecke, the only thing that would make this map even MORE spectacular is if, when you clicked on your Congressional District, it provided you the opportunity to contact your U.S. Representative from that page. Oh, and Senators, too. Get on that for next year, would you?)

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get my time sucked right out of my day. I’ve got a new shiny state-level solar data map from TSF with which to play.

More:

State-Level Solar Data Map

National Solar Jobs Census

The Solar Foundation