See http://www.createenergy.org/workshops.html for information about attending the STEM Educator Solar Institute at Madison College in July, or Shoreline Community College in August.

The Center for Renewable Energy Advanced Technical Education (CREATE) helps faculty and colleges develop educational programs in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The Center for Renewable Energy Advanced Technical Education (CREATE) will have unique instructional opportunities with the installation of the largest solar energy system in Wisconsin at Madison Area Technical College (Madison College).

"It will be great because our students will be able to work on the installation itself [in 2018], and they will do the ongoing operations and maintenance over the next 20 to 30 years," said Kenneth A. Walz, CREATE's principal investigator and an instructor of chemistry and engineering at Madison College. The educators from across the country who attend the STEM Educator Solar Institute offered by CREATE, an Advanced Technological Education national support center, will also benefit from it.

With the growth of renewable energy jobs, CREATE added a second Solar Institute for summer 2017. There are still openings for the free three-day workshop in July at Madison College, and in August at Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, Washington. See http://www.createenergy.org/workshops.html for more information.

Economics Drive Growth in Renewable Energy Workforce

"Employment growth has been great," Walz said in a phone interview for the ATE@20 Blog. In Wisconsin, and many other states, more people are now employed in solar energy than any other energy sector including natural gas, coal, or petroleum. At least for the near term, there's going to be a lot of installation work in solar. It's true for wind too, by the way. They've shown [that] the fastest growing job in America right now is wind turbine technician," he said.

The International Renewable Energy Agency reports that 9.8 million people worked in renewable energy worldwide during 2016. "The solar and wind industries were the primary engines of job creation in the U.S. renewable energy sector, which employed 770,000 people in 2016," according to the agency's Renewable Energy and Jobs 2017 Annual Review. More than half of U.S. solar jobs were in installations, mostly in utility-scale facilities.

"Now Hiring: The Growth of America's Clean Energy & Sustainability Jobs," a May 12, 2017, webinar prepared on behalf of CREATE by Meister Consultants Group offers these key takeaways for educators:

• "Continued growth in renewable energy and energy efficiency markets is expected to generate thousands of jobs in the near future.
• Public and private training providers need to continue their efforts to meet the market demand, especially for installation-related jobs.
• Emerging technologies like offshore wind, energy storage, and renewable heating and cooling are also expected to generate additional jobs in the coming decades.
• These sectors will require new curriculum and skill development provided by vocational trainers (e.g. trainings could target skills like installations, communications and marketing, system sizing and performance)."

Local Factors Outweigh International Agreements

During the phone interview, Walz said he does not expect enrollment in technician programs and students' career prospects to be affected by the United States' withdrawal from the Paris climate accord. He noted that community colleges' programs respond to local job markets, not international treaties.

"Most of the employers we have are actually adding staff, just because the economics are good right now," Walz said. More technologically advanced equipment at lower prices and government incentives mean solar installations have internal rates of return ranging from 7 to 10 percent. Walz said, "You can't earn that kind of return putting your money in a bank. For anybody that's got money to invest, or if you can borrow money at a couple percent interest, the economics look pretty good."

With regard to individual consumers, he said, "In general, the public is way out ahead of the policymakers on this one."

The Pew Research Center reached a similar conclusion. Its January 2017 survey found "that 65% of Americans give priority to developing alternative energy sources, compared with 27% who would emphasize expanded production of fossil fuel sources."

Walz cited Wisconsin's lack of fossil fuels as a key factor in the investment decisions of Madison Gas and Electric, the private utility providing the grant to Madison College.

"We don't have any coal; no natural gas, and we have no petroleum. So all those sources of energy are stuff we import from other states ... this is a way that we can be more reliant on the resources we have—sun and wind—and keep more of our energy dollars in our state employing more of our own people," Walz said.

New Solar Energy System Will Accommodate Instruction & Research

In January when Walz learned about Madison Gas and Electric's request for proposals, he seized on the opportunity to have an asset that will serve local students and U.S. educators.

Last week Madison College announced that it would add $1.8 million to Madison Gas and Electric Co's grant. With roof upgrades, the total price for the project is $3.5 million.

The 1,400 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system is first and foremost a source of clean energy. It is expected to offset 10 to 15 percent of the college's total electric consumption and to cut $200,000 from its annual electric bill.

As real-life renewable energy lab, Walz plans to utilize the rooftop system in research projects. He plans to have students analyze the energy from panels oriented at different angles. The college also wants to test new software and smart inverters capable of providing voltage regulation and frequency stabilization. A two-way communication network between the solar system and the electric utility could help make the Madison regional electric grid more resilient.

CREATE is Three-College Partnership

The original CREATE center, the California Regional Consortium for Engineering Advances in Technological Education, began about a decade ago at the College of the Canyons in San Clarita, California, and focused on wind energy in California and Western states.

Last year, Madison College and Lane Community College partnered with Canyons to transition CREATE into the role of a national support center funded by the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education program. All three colleges have had numerous prior ATE grants, and the mission of the new CREATE support center is to provide assistance to faculty and colleges developing educational programs in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Since 2010, Madison College has used ATE support to provide faculty professional development experiences in the form of week-long summer Renewable Energy Academies.

In the March 2017 issue of The Journal of Sustainability Education, Walz and Joel B. Shoemaker report that 96 percent of the academy participants—284 educators from 41 U.S. states and territories—reported increased interest in renewable energy as a result of the hands-on workshops.

"A large majority of academy alumni used what they learned to bring others 'on board' (such as colleagues, administrators, and community members), to enhance classroom lessons, to modify course curriculum, to create new lab activities, and to improve or modify existing lab activities." More than half of the participants report they created new courses, added more hands-on activities to their instruction, and acquired new renewable energy equipment.

"As of 2016, over 35,000 students have been taught by the Renewable Energy Academy participants, and approximately 28,000 received direct instruction using the content or pedagogy learned at the academies."