Feds Boost Goal To 75k New Solar Power Workers By 2020

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday April 7, 2015 @07:30PM from the fortunate-sun dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. government has announced plans to help train 75,000 people to enter the solar workforce by 2020, including a number of veterans. The new goal is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Initiative, which helps fund research, manufacturing and market creation. The SunShot Initiative's Solar Instructor Training Network works with 400 community colleges across the country for training, and claims to have already certified 1,000 solar instructors and nearly 30,000 students in the last five years. Ultimately, the SunShot Initiative has a goal for solar energy to reach price parity with conventional power sources in five years.

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Re:Why different policy on this to Junior IT posit by swb · 2015-04-07 23:40 · Score: 3, Interesting

What exactly is so special about installing solar panels? It sounds to me like pretty conventional electrical and construction work.
Even recreational marine electrical systems can be more complicated, with a mix of solar, wind, grid, generator, battery (12/24/48V) and mixed loads (native, 12v, AC).