At the GridWeek 2009 Conference Monday morning, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that more than $144,000,000 in ARRA funding will be released for smart grid workforce training programs. Of that amount, $100,000,000 will support workforce training for the electric power industry, broken down as:
$35,000,000-$40,000,000 to develop training programs, strategies, and curricula to achieve a national, clean energy smart grid; open to a range of applicants including utilities, colleges, universities, trade schools, and labor organizations
$60,000,000-$65,000,000 to conduct workforce training programs for new workers and retraining programs for electric utility workers and electrical equipment manufacturers to further knowledge of smart grid technologies and their implementation
The remaining $44,000,000 will go to state public utility commissions to hire new staff and retrain existing employees to ensure that they have the capacity to quickly and effectively review proposed energy projects. (Source: RDMag, September 21, 2009)
Contact: Drury Crawley, US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, (202) 586-9220, [email protected], www.energy.gov.