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Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Maine is training an army of HVAC pros to meet its heat pump goals
Powering Rural Futures: Clean energy is creating new jobs in rural America, generating opportunities for people who install solar panels, build wind turbines, weatherize homes, and more. This five-part series from the Rural News Network explores how industry, state governments, and education systems are training this growing sputtered drone of a vacuum pump filled the former milking barn that now houses Kennebec Valley Community College's heat pump lab. Instructor Dave Whittemore, who held the yellow vacuum in one hand and displayed an app tracking atmospheric pressure on his phone in the other, explained in a raised voice how to do an 'evacuation,' ridding the heat pump of air and moisture to avoid malfunctions down the road. 'The longevity of the equipment is important,' said Whittemore, who teaches students how to install the increasingly popular electric heating and cooling units. 'If it's not done right, then it's going to fail prematurely. And that's the biggest reason that I personally try to keep up with industry best standards and I pass that on to my students.' Six years ago, Gov. Janet Mills traveled to the college to sign a bill aimed at transforming Maine's market for heat pumps, an environmentally friendly alternative to oil furnaces and gas boilers, and set a goal of installing 100,000 units by 2025. The state, now a national leader for heat pump adoption, met that goal two years ahead of schedule, and Mills once again traveled to the rural Somerset County campus to announce a new target: another 175,000 heat pumps by 2027. Maine needs skilled workers to reach this goal, demanding training initiatives from all corners of the state to build HVAC, refrigerant, and electrical knowledge in the clean energy workforce. Without a strong pipeline, the state risks delays in reaching its heat pump target, putting its climate goals at risk. So far, rural counties have seen some of the fastest rates of clean energy worker growth, according to state data. In Somerset County, where KVCC is located, the number of clean energy workers has grown by 44% since 2020. As part of this push, the community college launched a high-tech heat pump training lab in 2021 and has trained over 300 students. The initiative is one of many clean energy programs the school offers as part of a broader, state-supported effort to meet Maine's goal of reaching 30,000 clean energy jobs by 2030. Efficiency Maine, a quasi-governmental agency that oversees the state's energy efficiency programs, has invested more than $400,000 in installation and weatherization training programs at KVCC and supports 29 similar programs at other institutions each year. Another key piece of state support comes through the Governor's Energy Office's Clean Energy Partnership, which has awarded nearly $5 million in grants for clean energy training and apprenticeship programs across the state since 2022 and has seen over 3,500 participants. Businesses have also developed their own on-the-job training programs to help meet demand. But the state still faces a daunting challenge: It must employ more than 14,000 new workers to reach its goal of 30,000 clean energy jobs by the end of the decade. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of workers in the field grew by less than a thousand. While the state says it remains dedicated to this goal, some in the industry worry federal funding cuts and tariffs could create challenges for the workforce development pipeline. Heat pumps have emerged as a pillar of Maine's clean energy strategy: The units can reduce carbon dioxide emissions between 38% and 53% compared to a gas furnace, according to a 2022 study in the academic journal Energy Policy, and have been touted as a way to reduce energy costs. Rural areas have historically spent more on energy bills and participated less in residential energy and efficiency financing and rebate programs to lower costs, according to a state report from 2023. To help rural Mainers overcome geographic barriers in accessing cost-lowering energy initiatives, the state must bolster its rural workforce, according to a 2018 study the Island Institute produced in partnership with the Governor's Energy Office. The demand for cleaner energy has grown not only in response to the state's climate goals, but also as Maine's electricity costs rise. A Maine Monitor analysis showed that electricity costs increased at the third-highest rate in the U.S. between 2014 and 2024. A Maine Monitor analysis of 2023 U.S. Department of Energy and Bureau of Labor Statistics data prepared for E2 shows that two-thirds of the state's clean energy jobs were in the energy-efficiency sector, while about a fifth of jobs were in renewables. Workforce development has become a priority for the state as the clean energy industry grows, said Tagwongo Obomsawin, the program manager for the state's Clean Energy Partnership, noting that it can provide good paying jobs for Mainers and reduce energy costs. 'Employers are definitely a really important part of the picture, but we don't want to leave out anyone,' Obomsawin said. 'We recognize that training providers, academia, state government, organized labor, and industry all have a role to play in making sure that we have a robust system that supports people in finding job opportunities, getting access to training, and localizing the benefits of the energy transition.' Heat pump training is just one of several clean energy programs offered through the Maine Community College System, which includes KVCC. The system works with industry and state leaders to grow the workforce. The network of schools also trains students in electric vehicle maintenance, fiber optics, aquaculture, and more. Dan Belyea, the system's chief workforce development officer, said short-term training and scholarship funding are centered on needs that arise in the industry, which the schools gauge by looking at labor market data and talking to employers. Programs that are highest in demand tend to include electrical and heat pump training, Belyea said. In 2022, KVCC hoped to use a nearly $250,000 grant from the Clean Energy Partnership to offer programs on electric vehicles and NABCEP solar photovoltaic installation. But trouble finding instructors and low interest among students made it difficult to launch. Instead, KVCC doubled down on energy efficiency. It launched a building science program with the funding last fall, which had five students, two of whom were able to complete the certification. Other clean energy workforce initiatives have popped up across the state. Some employers run their own heat pump or solar installation training labs, and several adult education programs and nonprofits also offer classes designed to help people move into the industry. PassivHaus, a Freeport-based organization, received $180,000 in Clean Energy Partnership money in 2022 to host training programs on the state's energy code. The company ran 29 trainings across the state, from Portland to Presque Isle. Naomi Beal, executive director of PassivHaus, noted that getting enough students to attend the training was easier in areas like Portland but trickier in more rural areas. 'I always feel like it's very important to consider when going into Greenfield or Machiasport or wherever that there are just not that many people. … So if we get five people showing up, that's probably statistically way more interest than [a larger number of attendees] down in Portland,' Beal said. 'We just try to be patient and persistent with the smaller towns and the smaller attendance.' In Freeport, Scott Libby, the owner of Royal River Heat Pumps, walked through his training center as he explained that all his workers go through heat pump training that starts with the basics, regardless of experience, to ensure each worker is equipped to handle the job. 'A lot of these heat pumps have 12-year warranties,' Libby said. 'That's 4,380 days. The most important day is Day 1. It needs to be installed properly.' Libby, who has worked with the U.S. Department of Energy on workforce development and sits on a new energy-efficiency workforce subcommittee being developed by the Governor's Energy Office, said he's aware of a number of different workforce development initiatives but that it's difficult to comprehend how they all work together. He said some forms of programming aren't sufficient for what's actually needed in the field: Students who sit through a six-week or six-month program that teaches the basics of how heat pumps work may come out with little to no hands-on experience with a power tool or climbing a ladder. Libby emphasized the need for more collaboration between different workforce development efforts and a more systematic approach, with quality checks in place. He suggested putting more thought into designing industrial arts and home economics programs in middle and high schools to introduce students to different career pathways early on. He also said more stringent licensing requirements could help with the quality of workers moving into the field. As it stands, there is no specific licensing required to install heat pumps in Maine, though workers need an Environmental Protection Agency Section 608 license to deal with the refrigerant used inside the unit, and an electrical license to complete the wiring. He acknowledged that new regulation could 'cripple' workforce development efforts but said the move is imperative to control the level of training workers receive and make sure everyone is qualified to install heat pumps. There are hundreds of contractors listed as qualified heat pump installers on Efficiency Maine's website, a list he said in his opinion should be much shorter. At KVCC's heat pump lab, Whittemore gestured at eight heat pumps mounted on prop walls used for training, listing the types of new units he hopes to get soon — ideally through donations from companies who have given units in the past. Regulatory changes to refrigerants that went into effect this year mean the school needs to replace the heat pumps it uses to train students. 'Most of the procedures with the new refrigerants are the same. It's just that we can't put this new refrigerant in these existing heat pumps,' he said. 'So I've got to get eight new heat pumps.' The broader challenge he sees for the industry is tariffs, which he fears could lead to higher equipment prices and lower demand. This, in turn, could mean a lower need for workers. 'I think that's going to slow this down,' he said. Maine has two years to reach its goal of installing 275,000 heat pumps and five years to reach its goal of 30,000 clean energy jobs. But uncertainties in building Maine's workforce lie ahead. The Clean Energy Partnership Project, which has funded many of the state's clean energy workforce development programs, typically announces new grants in the summer, but the Governor's Energy Office stopped short of committing to another round of funding this year. 'We can't predict the future, but the existing programs that we have will continue on for at least another couple of years,' Obomsawin said. She said a partnership the Energy Office has with the Department of Labor to provide career navigation services will continue into 2026, as will workforce development programs that received funding and are already operational. But she cautioned that it is still too early to know what impact policy changes at the federal level will have on the clean energy sector. Efficiency Maine said that the state is still on track to achieve its heat pump goals — at least for now. Executive Director Michael Stoddard said that the heat pump rebate program has funding from the Electric Utility Conservation Program and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative for at least the next three years. However, some smaller initiatives, such as a revolving loan to help Mainers buy new heat pump systems, face uncertainty as the federal grants funding the project are in flux. Libby, of Royal River Heat Pumps, has 40 years of HVAC industry experience and said funding uncertainty will make it a challenge to reach the state's heat pump goal. 'I think it's definitely going to be harder,' Libby said. 'I mean, I'm not ready to give up on it yet. I don't think anybody is ready to give up on it.' This reporting is part of a collaboration between the Institute for Nonprofit News' Rural News Network and Canary Media, South Dakota News Watch, Cardinal News, The Mendocino Voice, and The Maine Monitor. Support from Ascendium Education Group made the project possible.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Solar apprenticeships give Virginia students a head start on clean energy
Powering Rural Futures: Clean energy is creating new jobs in rural America, generating opportunities for people who install solar panels, build wind turbines, weatherize homes, and more. This five-part series from the Rural News Network explores how industry, state governments, and education systems are training this growing workforce. When Mason Taylor was getting ready to graduate from high school in 2022, he thought he would have to take an entry-level technician job with a company in Tennessee. Taylor grew up in the town of Dryden in rural Lee County, in the westernmost sliver of Virginia between Kentucky and Tennessee. He had come to love the electrical courses he took in high school because there was always something new to learn, always a new way to challenge himself. Driving to Tennessee for work would likely mean two hours commuting each day. Taylor, now 21, just wanted to work close to home. A summer apprenticeship learning how to install solar arrays helped him get on-the-job training and opened up connections to local work. A regional partnership working to add solar panels to commercial buildings in the region aims to train young people as they go, developing workforce skills in anticipation of increasing demand for renewable energy-focused jobs in the heart of coal country, where skill sets and energy options are both changing. Virginia ranks eighth in the nation for installed solar capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, but so far, major renewable energy projects have been clustered in the eastern and southern regions of the state. Increasing the popularity of solar power in the far southwestern corner of the state depends in part on the availability of trained workers like Taylor. Andy Hershberger, director of Virginia operations for Got Electric, said the electrical contractor firm has had an apprenticeship program nearly since the company's founding. The company, which has about 100 employees total, with 40 in Virginia and an office in Maryland, has worked with Staunton-based Secure Solar Futures, a commercial and public-sector solar developer, as far back as 2012. More recently, the two companies began working to set up a training program that was more focused on solar. The catalyst was the former superintendent of Wise County schools, a school division that had signed up to put solar panels on its facilities. The superintendent saw the installation as an opportunity to get his students hands-on work on a renewable energy project. Approximately three dozen apprentices have signed up for the program since 2022, including about 13 who are currently involved, Hershberger said. They work on a variety of solar projects, including on rooftops, carports, and ground-mounted installations. 'We have been utilizing this program to train students coming out of high school and basically growing the workforce side of this thing, so we have the necessary personnel to build these solar projects long term,' Hershberger said. On top of hourly pay, apprentices get free equipment and a transportation subsidy, along with nine community college credits at Mountain Empire Community College, which provides classroom training before students step onto the job site. 'I mean, pretty much everything you need to know to go out and do any electrical job, you pretty much learned in that apprenticeship program,' Taylor said. He was in the first cohort of 10 students who installed solar panels on public schools in Lee and Wise counties in 2022. A grant from a regional economic development authority paid the students' wages while they earned credit at Mountain Empire Community College, which serves residents of Dickenson, Lee, Scott, and Wise counties, plus the city of Norton. He got a job offer from Got Electric at the end of that summer. This summer, Secure Solar Futures and Got Electric will join forces again to install more than 1,600 solar panels on the community college's classroom buildings. The project was originally slated for 2024 but was delayed due in part to a separate project upgrading fire safety equipment in one of the buildings. The 777-kilowatt solar power system will be connected to the electric grid, and Mountain Empire will receive credit for the power it generates. Hershberger said he sees interest in solar growing. 'I think there's always been folks that have adopted renewable projects, different types of energy sources. There's always the standard interest in trying to save money for facilities and campuses and things like that,' he said. Mountain Empire Community College offers solar training as a standalone career studies certificate or as part of its larger energy technology associate degree program. In Southwest Virginia, a solar installation project is more likely to consist of adding panels to homes and businesses rather than building the large, utility-scale ground-based facilities more commonly seen in Southside Virginia, said Matt Rose, the college's dean of industrial technology. On a larger project, a single worker might have a specialized role, performing the same task across a large number of panels. On a smaller project, a worker is more likely to be involved in more aspects of the job. 'Our students need to have that comprehensive understanding and ability to be able to do it all,' he said. Last year, 10 students graduated Mountain Empire with the solar installer certification. Many students who earn the certification perform solar installation work as one part of a more comprehensive job, such as being an electrician. Rose said the college's students typically start out making $17 or $18 an hour but can earn more as they become journeymen and master electricians. Nationwide, the median salary for electricians is about $61,000. In Lee County, population 22,000, the median household income is about $42,000. The number of solar installers in Southwest Virginia is unclear. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't collect data on employment by technology, so residential solar installation companies are labeled as electrical contractors, along with all other electrical businesses, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Tony Smith, founder and CEO of Secure Solar Futures, measures the success of the company's apprenticeship program person by person. At an April event to celebrate the completion of the first phase of solar panel installation for Roanoke schools, Smith asked about several of the students from the 2022 cohort from Lee and Wise counties by name. Smith said it's tough to replicate the apprenticeship program at various school divisions. Doing so requires the work of individual school systems and the regional community colleges, instead of being able to pick up the curriculum from one area and apply it at the next project site. And all the partners — Smith's company, participating schools and installation firms — face some uncertainty for each project. It's challenging to pinpoint the timing of projects so that students have the time to participate during the summer months, he said. 'The things I learned in the apprenticeship program I'm still doing day to day,' Anthony Hamilton, 21, said. He completed the eight-week apprenticeship in Lee and Wise counties in 2022 alongside Taylor. He didn't think it would turn into a full-time job. He doubted anyone really wanted to hire a kid just starting college. He's been with Got Electric ever since, working as an electrician primarily on commercial jobs. Hamilton's solar experience has come in handy on recent installation projects at a poultry farm and at a YMCA facility. Hamilton continued going to school at Mountain Empire and graduates this month with two associate degrees in energy technology and electrical. He's also earned a handful of certificates in solar installation, air conditioning and refrigeration, and electrical fabrication, among others. With the nine credits he earned in the summer apprenticeship, he 'already had a head start on everybody in the program.' It wasn't an easy journey, though. He said he usually started his day around 6 a.m. and went to night classes after work that stretched until 9:30 p.m. Hamilton lives in Coeburn in Wise County, a 45-minute drive to the college campus. He'd get home late, then get up early and do it all over again. But his college was free through a local scholarship program that pays for up to three years of classes at Mountain Empire. He'd like to stay with Got Electric and start preparing to take his journeyman's license, which requires at least four years of practical experience on top of vocational training, plus an exam. From there, he's got designs on moving up in the company and eventually becoming a master electrician. On April 14, he was in the town of Abingdon, a few weeks into a three-month project installing a solar array at a large poultry farm that says it produces more than 650,000 eggs a day. The work so far entailed digging trenches and laying PVC pipe for the ground-mount solar system that will span one section of the farm's expansive fields. Taylor uses similar skills at work each day. But his work site looks a lot different from Hamilton's. It has taken Taylor some time to figure out how to stick close to home while working in his trade. He spent a year working with Got Electric immediately after finishing his summer apprenticeship, then left the company to work as an electrician in a local school system. He eventually returned to Got Electric for a few months, working at Virginia Tech putting solar on three buildings on campus in Blacksburg, three hours from home. He discovered he didn't like traveling for installation jobs that meant night after night in a motel room. 'That was the only complaint I had with it, about being away from home,' he said. Now he's an electrician at a state prison in Big Stone Gap. He has the same shift every day, in the same place, and drives 10 minutes home from work at the end of the day. Taylor has also taken additional classes at Mountain Empire and wants to go back this fall to finish his associate degrees in HVAC and electrical. He eventually wants to open his own business as an electrician working locally. He'd like to be able to do small solar installation jobs. Solar hasn't really caught on in far Southwest Virginia, he said — at least, not yet. Rose, the dean at Mountain Empire, noted that once major solar projects are done, maintenance doesn't require ongoing jobs, and most students who receive training in solar installation typically make it part of another job, such as being an electrician. 'We're starting to see a lot more homeowners interested in [solar] locally as a way to offset increasing energy costs, but overall most of it is just a component of the job because there's not enough demand,' Rose said. Rose predicts interest in solar will grow as more homeowners and business owners look for ways to offset rising electric bills. 'As we all look at increasing energy costs, it's going to make a lot more economic sense,' he said. Energy independence, he added, fits with the character of Southwest Virginia. 'We've always been resilient people,' Rose said. 'We've always been adapt-and-overcome people, and what better way than to basically control a little bit of your own power?' This reporting is part of a collaboration between the Institute for Nonprofit News' Rural News Network and Canary Media, South Dakota News Watch, Cardinal News, The Mendocino Voice, and The Maine Monitor. Support from Ascendium Education Group made the project possible.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
South Dakota students tap into growing wind-energy job market
Powering Rural Futures: Clean energy is creating new jobs in rural America, generating opportunities for people who install solar panels, build wind turbines, weatherize homes, and more. This five-part series from the Rural News Network explores how industry, state governments, and education systems are training this growing workforce. MITCHELL, S.D. — Matthew Pearson found a successful career in the wind energy industry purely by chance. After graduating from high school in Vermillion, Pearson knew he didn't want to pursue a four-year degree and instead scrolled through the list of majors offered at Mitchell Tech, one of the state's four technical colleges. 'When I came to the wind energy program, I thought, 'Well, that sounds kind of cool,'' Pearson, 28, recalled during a recent interview at Mitchell Tech, the only South Dakota college with a designated wind energy major. He didn't know it at the time, but he had stumbled into one of the fastest-growing, highest-paying trade fields in the state and nation. While workforce shortages plague many industries and employers in the Rushmore State, great opportunities abound for skilled workers to build, operate, and maintain renewable energy facilities, including at wind farms. Meanwhile, strong partnerships between technical colleges, employers, and the Build Dakota scholarship program have forged a ready pathway to quickly and effectively fill the need for energy workers. Pearson obtained a Build Dakota scholarship that paid all tuition for a two-year wind technology degree, then spent about $15,000 to complete another two-year major in electrical construction. After graduation, he quickly landed a job wiring wind towers at locations around the country. He was initially paid about $80,000 a year, and after six years was making $127,000 plus a daily living fee of $140. But now, with a fiancee and two children, Pearson is completing a circle by leaving fieldwork and returning to Mitchell Tech to become its only wind energy program instructor. Pearson said that in addition to teaching the skills needed to thrive in the renewable energy field, he'll also share the good news about their job prospects. 'There's been a steady uptick in the need for workforce,' he said. 'When I would get to a jobsite, there would be three or four companies there, and they'd always come over and ask, 'Hey, you want to come work for us instead?'' South Dakota is among the top three states nationally in percentage of energy generated from renewable sources, leaving it well positioned to provide both jobs in the field and trainers like Pearson who will help meet demand for workers. About 77% of the power used in the state comes from non-fossil-fuel sources, largely from water and wind, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The state has three solar farms but no plans filed for more. Since the mid-1950s, South Dakota has generated significant energy from its four hydroelectric power plants on the Missouri River. And over roughly the past 15 years, the state has seen a tenfold increase in wind energy production, according to the state Public Utilities Commission. That growth has created a healthy number of construction and maintenance jobs. In 2009, the state had 190 turbines capable of producing about 350 megawatts of electricity. At the end of 2024, South Dakota was home to 1,417 turbines able to generate about 3,600 MW of energy. The PUC also approved a 68-turbine project with a capacity of 260 MW and a $621 million price tag near Clear Lake in March. 'We've had just a tremendous expansion of wind energy in South Dakota,' said Chris Nelson, a PUC commissioner. 'Today, though, we're in a little bit of a lull.' The expected slowdown is due to a lack of transmission lines capable of carrying more power, most of which heads east out of the state, Nelson said. Despite the infrastructure challenges, renewable energy still has a bright future, he said. Two nonprofit energy consortiums that manage the power grid in the upper Midwest plan to spend a combined $37 billion to expand transmission capacity, including in South Dakota, over roughly the next decade. At Lake Area Technical College in Watertown, students are offered two energy-related degree tracks, said President Tiffany Sanderson. The energy technology major provides training in development and maintenance of energy systems, and the energy operations degree is aimed at managing an energy facility. 'In our energy programs, those are students interested in working with their hands and solving engineering or process-oriented problems,' she said. 'They're very mechanically minded and can figure out how to make sure power is produced reliably so people don't have delays in service.' During a recent tour of the technology labs, students used 3D printers, developed and analyzed system efficiency, and worked on unique projects like a solar-powered ice fishing shanty. The two programs have about two dozen students combined, Sanderson said. In the 2023 graduating class, 100% of all graduates were employed within six months, with average salaries of $65,000 a year in the technology major and $69,000 a year in operations. 'That is for their first jobs in the industry, so those are tremendous opportunities for a brand-new graduate with two years of college education,' she said. In May, Nathaniel Bekaert will become one of those new graduates from Lake Area Tech. Bekaert, 28, grew up on a farm and came to the college after six years in the U.S. Army, which paid for almost all of his tuition, fees, and equipment costs. After touring the Gavins Point Dam hydroelectric plant in Yankton on the Nebraska border and interning at the Big Stone Power Plant near the Minnesota border, Bekaert was sold on the idea of working as a mechanic in the energy field. 'The more you learn, the more you want to dive into it,' he said. With his anticipated degree and work experience, Bekaert said he was recruited extensively by energy companies. 'The amount of energy companies coming in looking for workers is crazy, and you can't really grasp how many companies are looking for energy students,' he said. 'There are a dozen or more companies within 45 minutes from here that are actively looking for technicians and operators or people with some type of energy degree.' As a native of the Watertown area, Bekaert has accepted a job close to home as a wind technician at the Crowned Ridge wind farm northeast of the city, where he will make $29 an hour plus a $5,000 signing bonus and a $200 annual stipend for work boots. Crowned Ridge is operated by NextEra Energy, a Florida-based company that runs wind farms across the country. A recent check of NextEra's website revealed 396 job openings, with 185 related specifically to wind energy. 'No matter what happens with fossil fuels, we can keep going [with renewable energy] and live off that, and it will benefit everybody in the world. And we won't have to rely on another country,' Bekaert said of his career choice. The South Dakota technical school system, which also includes campuses in Sioux Falls and Rapid City, has developed a close working relationship with the energy industry to ensure students learn the right skills and employers can tap into a pipeline of well-trained workers. Lake Area Tech officials go into local public schools to promote energy and other trade jobs starting in elementary grades, Sanderson said. At Mitchell Tech, Clayton Deuter, the vice president for enrollment services, said the college now offers a one-year wind energy degree instead of a two-year program, a change made after energy companies said some skills taught in the longer program could be obtained on the job instead. Deuter said the energy programs at Mitchell Tech are an easy sell to students and their parents due to the low cost compared to a four-year college and the availability of Build Dakota scholarships in which students get tuition paid if they work in South Dakota for three years after graduation. Mitchell Tech also offers a dual-enrollment program to high school students so they can have a wind energy degree from the college in hand by the time they graduate. 'You think about return on investment, and here you can take one year in the wind turbine program and you can graduate and make $80,000 to $100,000 a year,' Deuter said. 'With student loan debt being so crazy, you don't have to bankrupt yourself financially and be tethered to a student loan payment when you're trying to buy a house and start a family.' One of the state's biggest renewable energy employers is Marmen Energy in Brandon. The Canadian-owned company has 285 employees who build wind towers up to 300 feet tall that are shipped to wind farms nationwide. Aimee Miritello, human resources manager, said the company's relationships with high schools and technical colleges form a pillar of its worker recruitment strategy to overcome a nagging lack of workers in the trade fields. 'Historically for us that has been one of our best ways of getting qualified employees,' she said. Marmen has expanded its South Dakota plant to accommodate what Miritello said has been a steady increase in demand for wind towers across the country. Marmen workers, who include welders, painters, and other construction tradespeople, make a good wage, are offered one of the best benefit packages in the region, and have strong opportunities for internal advancement, she said. 'Plus, they're a part of making huge wind towers, so their pride in that is pretty big,' she said. This reporting is part of a collaboration between the Institute for Nonprofit News' Rural News Network and Canary Media, South Dakota News Watch, Cardinal News, The Mendocino Voice, and The Maine Monitor. Support from Ascendium Education Group made the project possible.
