Workforce Development Strategies

IREC’s Workforce Development program connects and coordinates the people, organizations, and initiatives needed to build the clean energy workforce of today and tomorrow. In order to achieve a 100% clean energy future, the U.S. urgently needs to expand the number of highly trained clean energy workers. 

To meet this goal, we face several related challenges. Job seekers need to understand the wide range of family-sustaining careers in clean energy and how they can advance in them. Employers need support reaching and retaining new candidates. Training providers need to tailor their offerings to the skills employers most need. 

IREC creates pathways into quality clean energy jobs by making vital connections between key workforce stakeholders—employers, training providers, government agencies, community-based organizations, and others.

IREC’s technical assistance has helped hundreds of employers improve recruitment outcomes and connected more than 1,000 individuals to clean energy apprenticeships. Our industry-leading accreditation ensures training provider excellence. Our Green Workforce Connect platform unites stakeholders on a central hub with shared resources and technical assistance. Working across industry sectors and job roles, IREC is leading efforts to expand training, job growth, and opportunities in the clean energy workforce

Our workforce programs reflect our commitment to a more equitable, sustainable, and healthy future. This includes cultivating a highly-skilled workforce that reflects the rich diversity of our communities—including people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, veterans, and people with disabilities.

Green Workforce Connect: A New Hub for Clean Energy Careers

Green Workforce Connect is a new platform that connects job seekers, students, and contractors to local training providers and employers. In a time of rapid job growth in the renewable energy and energy efficiency fields, we are raising awareness of these careers and making connections to link qualified job candidates with employment and training opportunities.  

Green Workforce Connect supports workforce development across several industries. It features an extensive resource library to support employers, training providers, and job seekers in solar energy and battery storage, as well as a searchable directory of more than 200 solar training providers. The platform also supports  building performance careers in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program, which helps make the homes of low-income households more energy efficient. It includes other resources on clean energy apprenticeships.

IREC’s Career Maps are unique, interactive tools that educators, career advisors, job seekers, employers, policymakers, and workforce professionals can use to explore the many diverse careers offered across the clean energy and energy efficiency industries. These maps—including the Solar Career Map, HVAC/R Map, and Green Buildings Career Map—describe careers matching a variety of skill sets and educational backgrounds.

Explore the career maps to find descriptions of clean energy careers, their training and experience requirements, and typical salary ranges. Chart a career path by exploring advancement routes from one role to the next.

Apprenticeships are a proven tool for recruiting and retaining skilled and diverse workers. For clean energy companies, Registered Apprenticeship programs are helping expand the clean energy workforce and build a pipeline of highly qualified and diverse talent.

Through the Apprenticeships in Clean Energy (ACE) Network, IREC leads a national coalition of industry, training, and workforce development leaders. We provide no-cost technical assistance to help organizations start or join Registered Apprenticeship programs. This program has helped hundreds of employers develop and implement apprenticeship programs and train over a thousand apprentices. With funding from the U.S. Department of Labor recently concluded, we are pleased to continue this work through generous funding from Invest in Our Future.

We encourage you to browse our resource library to learn more about how to start or join a Registered Apprenticeship program. If you have questions, complete our intake form and we will be in touch to direct you to the best resources.

The National Clean Energy Workforce Alliance, supported by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, is a cross-sector effort to improve clean energy education, training, and job placement outcomes—and ensure that expanding clean energy job opportunities are inclusive of diverse candidates and underserved communities. Since January 2022, the Alliance has virtually convened more than 2,800 employers, training providers, community-based recruitment and support organizations, and energy justice organizations.

Through structured and intentional meetings, the Alliance is collectively identifying and sharing resources and information, with a focus on concrete solutions to shared workforce challenges. You can download slides from our monthly webinars for detailed information on key workforce development topics. We encourage you to join the Alliance and become a part of this conversation.

As one of the leading accrediting bodies for clean energy training in the United States, IREC has accredited over 200 clean energy training programs and has certified more than 100 clean energy instructors. IREC’s national standards for training and certification and rigorous application process require successful applicants to demonstrate a robust approach to quality, and provide evidence of how that translates into all major areas of training program operations.

IREC also provides online learning opportunities for a wide range of clean energy audiences. We offer online courses designed for local code officials, firefighters, weatherization professionals, students exploring clean energy careers… and many others! Our training is designed to directly support strong on-the-job performance, and provide a wide range of professionals with credible, fact-based information about clean energy.  

IREC’s Clean Energy Clearinghouse offers free educational resources and CEU-bearing courses to ensure students and partners have access to the information they need, when they need it. This clearinghouse provides resources for authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs), fire departments, clean energy contractors, manufacturers and suppliers, electric utilities, testing labs, building owners, facility managers, and more.

Clean energy is a job creator. IREC research informs policymakers, industries, and the general public about the jobs and economic impact of clean energy solutions. IREC’s annual National Solar Jobs Census is the authoritative report on solar job growth and the state of the workforce. Since 2010, the Solar Jobs Census has tracked employment in solar energy, battery storage, and other clean energy industries.

Veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces are outstanding candidates for careers in clean energy industries. IREC helps businesses expand connections with talented people with a background in military service, including transitioning service members or veterans. 

IREC leads the Solar Ready Vets Network™ to advance solar career pathways for service members and veterans, and help solar employers recruit and retain military talent. Through capacity-building initiatives, strategic partnerships, and targeted resources, Solar Ready Vets promotes the representation of military talent across all levels and sectors of the solar workforce