Category Archives: Featured News

Energy jobs in Washington State comprise 2.8 percent of the entire country’s energy efficiency workforce, making it the leading state in the country in energy efficiency jobs, according to the latest U.S. Energy and Employment report.

Explore the full report and the state-by-state comparison, as reported in the Washington State Wire, Washington leads nation in energy efficiency jobs.

Last year was a monumental year for completed projects at the Center of Excellence for Clean Energy. We are proud of our accomplishments—the projects, deliverables and milestones reached, including:

• Washington Integrated Sector Employment (WISE) Grant: The completion of the U.S. Department of Labor TAACCCT Round 4 WISE grant project.
• Utility Foreman Skill Profile: A collaborative project with the Center of Excellence for Clean Energy Advisory Board, the Power Utility Training Consortium and Washington State University Energy Program.
• Energy Technology Program Resource Guide: Washington’s community and technical college (CTC) system continues to deliver the most current and relevant training and education that meets industry needs.
• K-12 Pathways – New and Expanded Projects: As a state and a system, we continue to broaden the emphasis on reaching the K-12 pipeline, aligned with the Washington Career Connect Learning project.

For details on these projects and partnerships, see 2018 – A Year in Review – It’s About Partnerships.

The WISE consortium is proud to share WISE Project Success Stories, a series of success stories that highlight the WISE project and partnership.

Find out how the support received from the WISE Grant is making a difference for students, through advances, best practices, and program development made possible through the WISE Grant.

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The 2018 U.S. Energy and Employment Report was unveiled in Washington, D.C. on May 16, by Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), former Energy Secretary Ernest J. Moniz and others.

According to the new report, Washington State has 150,000 energy jobs, over a third of which are energy efficiency jobs. In addition, 2.8 percent of all U.S. energy efficiency jobs are in Washington, making the state a national leader. Nationwide employment in this sector is expected to continue to increase, with energy efficiency employment projected to grow another 9% in 2018, and energy efficiency construction jobs projected to grow by 11%.

“Our nation is embarking on one of the greatest economic opportunities, and that is a clean, efficient, energy economy,” said Senator Cantwell during the Capitol Hill event.

In 2016, Senator Cantwell hosted a roundtable at Pacific Northwest National Lab in Richland, Wash., with then Energy Secretary Moniz. The event marked the release of a study by Senator Cantwell that included information on the role that Centralia College’s Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean Energy has played in developing an energy workforce throughout the state.

“The Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean Energy has served the region for the past 12 years representing the needs and interests of the energy industry and labor partners. We are charged with narrowing the gap between employers’ demands for a highly skilled workforce and the college’s ability to supply work-ready graduates,” said Barbara Hins-Turner, Executive Director of the Center of Excellence for Clean Energy.

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Over the past year, the PNCECE Advisory Board, comprised of energy industry and labor leaders along with education partners, thoughtfully considered the issues and challenges facing our Center, our students, Washington’s Community and Technical College system, and the energy industry in the Pacific Northwest.

We engaged with focus groups across Washington State for a candid assessment of our organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges. We heard consistently that it is the strength of our partnership with industry, labor and education that has been the pillar of our success.

Since our founding in 2004, the Center’s impact has grown from five to 20 energy sector programs offered throughout the Washington State community college system. These programs support the industry’s diverse workforce needs and technological advances in niche areas of energy such as smart grid, solar, energy efficiency, hydro and wind energy technology, while continuing to support the core curriculum of power generation, transmission and distribution programs.

Read the full PNCECE Strategic Plan 2017-2020.

The American Jobs Project seeks to provide a research-driven guide for state and local leaders who want to ensure quality jobs for Washingtonians.

The Washington Jobs Project: A Guide to Creating Jobs in Grid Modernization was created by the American Jobs Project in partnership with the University of Washington and Western Washington University. Information was obtained from dozens of interviews with government, nonprofit, academic, and business leaders in Washington.

The report summarizes Washington’s competitive advantage in grid modernization. It provides a guide for growing state industry by capitalizing on growing market opportunities and aligning manufacturing with critical economic system components — including access to capital, innovation ecosystems, and workforce development.

According to the report, with the right policies, Washington’s grid modernization industry could employ an average of 13,800 Washingtonians annually over the next 13 years.

The Washington Jobs Project is intended to stimulate discussion of future growth potential and opportunities for barrier removal in the grid modernization industry.

Read the full report:
The Washington Jobs Project: A Guide to Creating Jobs in Grid Modernization

Learn more, including a Policy Bank detailing best practices and innovative ideas for job growth in advanced industries:
American Jobs Project