The New York Power Authority Board of Trustees recently approved $8 million in funding for clean energy workforce training and development programs.
Since May, NYPA’s board has awarded a total of $20.65 million for clean-energy training, including the awards approved Dec. 10 to the Institute for Workforce Advancement Workforce Training Initiative on Long Island, the Oneida County Office of Workforce Development Training Initiative in Utica, the Public Community Housing Fund Workforce Training Initiative in New York City, the State University of New York Clean Energy Microcredential Initiative and the WVI Dolphin Foundation in New York City.
The investments will assist in preparing New Yorkers for work ranging from maintenance of wind and solar power facilities to aerial-drone structural inspections, and from heating, ventilation and air-conditioning maintenance to support of electric-vehicle charging equipment.
NYPA said the current funding total strengthens NYPA’s collaboration with the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL), the NYSDOL’s newly established State Office of Just Energy Transition and with job-skills training organizations especially those working in disadvantaged communities and in the vicinities of NYPA power facilities.
“Our board believes that clean energy skills training is one of the best ways we can support the workforce and invest in New York’s future,” said NYPA Chairman John R. Koelmel. “The times and circumstances could not be more compelling to embrace new clean energy technologies, and now the $21 million in workforce development awards we have approved this year will help create job opportunities for thousands of New Yorkers in communities across the state.”
NYPA actively engages with each community training organization to ensure skills training is matched with needed positions and participant success through supportive wraparound services.
NYPA’s interactions with the skills-training organizations include input on the classroom and hands-on technology experiences of the enrollees for promoting the requisite clean energy skills and providing guidance on the training locations to ensure statewide reach of the awards.
“The Power Authority’s workforce training program is a cornerstone of the legislation approved by Governor Hochul last year expanding our role in growing the renewable energy sector,” said NYPA President and CEO Justin Driscoll. “NYPA is using its expertise to prepare the workforce with the training and skills required to adapt to and grow with the emerging clean-energy technologies that are already shaping the jobs and careers that will fuel our state’s economy. We look forward to partnering with even more job-training organizations across the state in the months and years ahead.”
Five organizations were approved for funding at the December Board of Trustees meeting.
Those organizations and their funding amounts are:
Institute for Workforce Advancement (IWA) Workforce Training Initiative, Long Island, $975,000
IWA, which is a nonprofit in Melville, Suffolk County, serves workers in career transition and college- and non-college-bound high-school graduates, with its focus on lower-income communities. The NYPA funding will support a training program for up to 220 participants, centered on clean energy manufacturing, offshore wind and drone technologies. Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology in Queens will provide industry-certified instructors.
Oneida County Office of Workforce Development (OCOWD) Training Initiative, Utica, $820,000
NYPA funding will support clean energy readiness apprenticeships of the OCOWD for young adults, rural residents, single mothers, individuals with disabilities, and historically marginalized populations. Approximately 200 residents of Oneida, Madison and Herkimer counties are participating, with special attention to Utica.
The training programs include construction, remediation, manufacturing, operations and occupations involved with renewable energy and battery energy storage systems. Mohawk Valley Community College is providing the technical training.
Public Community Housing Fund Workforce Training Initiative, New York City, $1.055 million
The initiative serves residents of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings. PCHF is partnering with Solar One, a non-profit that specializes in green workforce training, and Andromeda Community Initiative, a not-for-profit that provides workforce development programs for the construction and building restoration industry.
The PCHF initiative will provide eight-week classroom and hands-on training for 60 NYCHA residents, in carpentry, electricity use, plumbing, building operations, maintenance, energy efficiency, solar, HVAC and building decarbonization. The NYPA funding also will support a three-month paid internship for the students.
State University of New York (SUNY) Clean Energy Microcredential Initiative, $5 million
The NYPA trustees’ funding approval stemmed from a joint proposal between NYPA and NYSDOL to support the SUNY Clean Energy Microcredential Initiative. The program will expand enrollment in SUNY’s existing clean energy microcredential program as well as increase the number of SUNY campuses statewide engaged in this critical work.
SUNY will also launch a first-of-its kind pilot microcredential program at P-Tech high schools to recognize learning in clean energy. SUNY microcredentials are compact academic credentials, developed in partnership with industry, that provide learners with workforce ready knowledge, skills and experience, while also putting them on a pathway to additional credentials.
Students in the program will receive academic credit that can be immediately applied to related certificates and degrees. NYPA and SUNY will work together to meet regional needs across the state.
WVI Dolphin Foundation, New York City, $150,000
The New York City not-for-profit foundation serves economically disadvantaged high-school students and children of active-duty military members (“blue star”) and of those killed in action (“gold star”).
The NYPA funding will support WVI Dolphin’s Leadership Mentor Program, consisting of four clean energy training modules for 65 mentees. The program assists students to obtain internships, college- and trade-school admissions and jobs.
Workforce Development Funding to Date: Investing in New York’s Clean Energy Future
The job-skills organizations whose clean energy training programs will be supported by the latest NYPA funding awards were selected from a competitive review of responses to a NYPA Request for Proposals (RFP) in July. The RFP led to $2.55 million in funding awards by the NYPA trustees in October to seven community organizations, as the initial group of awards from the formal request.
The Trustees also approved a $500,000 award to the Renaissance Technical Institute, a non-profit organization in Harlem, that provides free vocational training for “at risk young adults” who are not anticipated to graduate high school. The grant will support six-month paid internships for the participants learning to become electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians and to fill jobs in related trades.
The October NYPA board actions were preceded by the trustees’ approval in May of $9 million in funding for clean workforce training programs administered by the NYSDOL. The programs incorporate wraparound services for participants to assist them with transportation, childcare, stable housing, food and other support. The support helps them to overcome obstacles that would otherwise make it difficult to attend and successfully complete the programs.
At the same meeting, the board also approved providing $600,000 to Say Yes Buffalo’s Youth Apprenticeship Program, which will place recent public high school graduates in one-to-three-year structured work-based learning apprenticeships at industry partners in high-demand sectors.
Workforce Investments Stem from NYPA’s Expanded Statutory Authority
NYPA’s workforce training and development investments stem from expanded authority legislation that was part of the 2023-24 New York State Budget Enactment.
The legislation granted the Power Authority with expanded authority for bringing about new renewable energy projects to advance the goals of the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
Under the budget enactment, the Power Authority committed to invest up to $25 million annually toward worker-training programs for the renewable energy sector.
In November, NYPA held public hearings across the state on a draft Renewables Strategic Plan, which identified 40 renewable projects for possible development, accounting for a total pipeline capacity of more than 3,500 megawatts.
Based on the input received, a final plan will be submitted to Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature by Jan. 31, 2025. Visit NYPA’s website for additional information on its draft Renewables Strategic Plan.
