Community solar developer Dimension Renewable Energy has pledged to invest $5 million in workforce development to train 1,500 solar professionals nationwide. This pledge builds upon Dimension’s existing work partnering with local non-profits, high schools, community colleges and adult education centers to deliver in-classroom solar installation instruction, hands-on basic solar construction skills, and OSHA safety certification. The company has active and in-development training programs with organizations nationwide and is focused on serving historically marginalized communities with its workforce development pledge.
In New Jersey, where Dimension today also announced 14 MW of new community solar projects, more than 50 individuals have participated to date in the company’s training and education programs. Program participants were able to gain hands-on training at Dimension’s project sites.
“As a community solar developer, ‘community’ is core to who we are,” said Bryan Bentrott, VP of origination at Dimension. “We believe in making clean energy more accessible to everyone, and are committed to workforce development that helps localize the economic benefits of our projects. By empowering residents to participate directly in community solar, here in New Jersey, and more broadly at all of our sites across the country, Dimension is creating opportunities for upward employment mobility in the communities we serve. The work we’re doing in New Jersey is a sample of what we’re initiating in multiple states.”
Dimension recently completed its first solar training program, with support from GRID Alternatives and Self Help Enterprises, in California. Eleven graduates completed five weeks of hand-on solar training.
News item from Dimension
