Oregon’s Clean Energy Workforce Gaps and Challenges (cont’d) Workforce System Gap
Description
E
No avenues exist to glean the knowledge base of clean energy experts nearing retirement.
In essence, our first wave of clean energy pioneers are baby boomers and will begin retiring in mass in 2011. Currently, there is no mentoring or knowledge transfer mechanism to capture the value of their knowledge and experience.
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Oregon Employment Department does not have mechanisms in place to track clean energy jobs and wages information.
The codes used by the Oregon Employment Department do not adequately track jobs and wage information on clean energy companies. For example, the solar manufacturing firms in Oregon will be tracked as manufacturing jobs but not as clean energy jobs. It is difficult to evaluate whether or not the clean energy industry is progressing if we are unable to establish a baseline.
In addition to the industry wide gaps addressed above, many key clean energy sectors report specific workforce gaps.
Industry-Specific Workforce Gaps
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Industry-Sector Specific Gaps
Description
Wind Technicians
Wind development presents a tremendous opportunity to create family wage jobs in Oregon. Wind industry employers in Oregon and Southwest Washington report a need for 600 wind technicians over the next four years. They are concerned about being able to find enough trained technicians and being able to encourage them to live in the rural regions necessary to do the work, especially given the shortage of affordable housing in many of these regions. The Columbia Gorge Community College currently has the capacity to produce only 34 technicians per year. Moreover, the program coordinator reports that a number of graduates are being lured away by out-of-state employers. Some union apprenticeship programs are turning out journey level workers with the skills to do this work. For example, the Pacific Northwest Ironworkers and Employers Apprenticeship Training Center offers a four-year program that trains most of the workers who erect wind towers, and is increasing the size of its program to graduate approximately 100 journey level workers per year starting in 2008. Electrical apprenticeship programs also offer classes for apprentices and licensed electricians on the maintenance of wind turbines and other electrically-powered equipment used in the wind, solar and wave industries. Many of these journey-level electricians and ironworkers, however, will be able to choose among a variety of employment options, of which wind turbine maintenance is only one.
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Though it may seem beyond the scope of a workforce study, we feel it important to highlight that addressing affordable housing in high wind resource regions will become increasingly important to developing this industry in Oregon. with remedial math skills.