The Department of Energy announced last week that it will award close to $3 million to fund nonprofit educational organizations that promote awareness and interest in clean energy careers.
DOE said in a release that the initiative is geared toward developing a diverse clean energy workforce and will fund programs that promote awareness “among K–12 and university students, alumni and academic professionals, veterans, and formerly incarcerated individuals.”
DOE’s request for information last November, which sought public input on the program, described it as part of the department’s efforts to “address the need for a diverse American energy workforce by leveraging organizations that are uniquely qualified to reach underrepresented communities.”
To be eligible for the funding, programs must provide services like career coaching, work-based learning opportunities with industry partners, or contributions to curriculum development. DOE hopes to target a “wide variety of groups within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.”
Eligible work-based learning opportunities include both internships and apprenticeships, as well as “other job-based experiences,” DOE said.
“Up to 10 organizations will be awarded approximately $300,000 each during Phase 1 of the program,” DOE said. “Phase 1 awardees will be eligible to receive a Phase 2 award based on their initiative's performance. The top three to five teams will split an additional award pool of $750,000 in the culmination of Phase 2.”
DOE said it will accept applications for new or expanded workforce development programs in sectors including “renewable energy, building energy efficiency, energy storage, advanced materials and manufacturing, electric vehicles, among others.” The deadline for Phase 1 submissions is Dec. 13.
The lack of a skilled workforce has increasingly become a concern for the clean energy industry, which is experiencing rapid growth and unprecedented investment after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The solar industry alone will need to marshal a workforce of more than a million in order to meet the Solar Energy Industries Association’s goal for solar to generate 30% of U.S. electricity by 2030, SEIA estimated last year.
President Joe Biden used executive action to address the labor shortage last September by creating the American Climate Corps, a workforce training and service initiative to “mobilize a new, diverse generation of more than 20,000 Americans” into conservation and clean energy jobs.
