Area Colleges Collaborate on ‘Renewables’ Workforce Development
Three desert area community colleges—two of them in Riverside County’s Fourth District— are teaming up to seek grant funding that will support workforce development in the desert region.
A Memorandum of Understanding was recently established between College of the Desert, Palo Verde Community College, and Imperial Valley Community College to collaborate in seeking funds to support the workforce development needs of a growing industry in east Riverside and central Imperial Counties.
That industry is the renewable energy industry, which is expected to receive significant public and private investment over the coming years. Although renewable energy sources are not new to the desert region of Southern California, recent attention to climate change, the set-aside of public lands in our area for solar energy development, and Recovery Act dollars devoted to stimulating this sector will create a new demand for trained workers in this emerging industry.
College of the Desert, Palo Verde Community College, and Imperial Valley Community College will work together in future applications for education and training program funding.
“There is no other region of the country that will see the variety and level of renewable energy development that we will see in our region over the next few years,” said Larry McLaughlin, Director of COD’s Advanced Transportation Technology and Energy Center.
College of the Desert has already begun to develop training capacity for the renewable energy workforce in our region. It will begin conducting its Wind Turbine Technician Training Program in mid-October at a facility specifically designed for renewable energy programs. It also already conducted a “train the trainers” workshop on September 25 and 26 to begin preparing faculty to teach energy efficiency and solar energy programs. Several colleges in the region participated.