Chad Neal (right) instructs second year IBEW apprentices at the Cedar Rapids Electrical Training Center in Cedar Rapids on Sept. 25. Green Energy development projects such as the Duane Arnold Solar development in Palo have led to an increased demand for skilled tradesmen. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)
Scott Robinson of Cedar Rapids didn’t know a thing about construction before he became an apprentice with Laborers Local 43, an affiliate of the Laborers’ International Union of North America based in Eastern Iowa.
After two-and-a-half years, Robinson, 33, graduated from the program in April. And now he’s one of hundreds of skilled trades workers working on the 200-megawatt Duane Arnold Solar projects near Palo, the biggest solar projects to touch Iowa ground yet. Several other utility-scale solar energy installations are taking shape around the state.
“I got my (program) certificate in the mail in May. Besides my daughter, that was one of the coolest things that has ever happened,” Robinson said. “This is a college equivalent, basically like a bachelor’s degree in construction. I did not see that happening in my life.”
Scott Robinson stands for a portrait outside a Duane Arnold Solar project jobsite near Palo on Nov. 9. Robinson, a journeyman member of Laborers Local 43, is one of hundreds of people working on construction of the Duane Arnold solar development project. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)
The skilled trades span several industries — from carpenters to electricians, insulators to glazers, and sheet metal workers to ironworkers. They may lay the bricks you walk or drive on; they may contort the pipes that lace through your property; they may help build the structures where you live and work.
They also play important roles in any green energy project you can think of. Plumbers, pipe fitters and sheet metal workers help construct geothermal energy projects. Electricians are essential for solar-powered projects and installing electric vehicle infrastructure. Skilled trades workers are on the scene for energy-efficiency efforts as well, where glazers and insulators are key to helping homes use less energy.
Over the past few decades, green energy projects have surged in Iowa. The state ranks first in the Midwest and third nationwide for its approximate 13,300 megawatts of operational clean energy sources, according to the American Clean Power Association. That generation — made up of wind, solar and energy storage plants — can power around 4.2 million homes.
Bolstered by unprecedented funding opportunities, the future of clean energy looks brighter than ever in the Hawkeye State. But it needs more workers. Earlier this year, Clean Jobs Midwest reported that more than 81 percent of Iowa employers reported at least some difficulty hiring workers for clean energy jobs in 2022.
That’s where registered apprenticeship programs come into play — the “earn while you learn” models training the next generation of skilled trades workers. As their enrollment swells, so does Iowa’s green energy workforce.
“A truly good green job is creating opportunities for the next generation of renewable energy — of skilled trades people — and giving young people a shot at a stable, middle-class life,” said Robin Clark-Bennett, director of the University of Iowa Labor Center. “That’s a future that we can all get behind.”
More funding, more demand
The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022, invested nearly $370 billion nationwide in clean energy over the next decade. To see also : Floating Solar Panel Market Report 2022 With Demographic Trends … – Digital Journal.
Among its incentives, the law establishes tax credits for wind, solar, geothermal, battery storage, carbon capture, clean hydrogen and existing nuclear energy projects. It also encourages high labor standards — like paying workers equitable wages — during the deployment of such projects.
The resulting boom of green energy projects could support more than 9 million jobs nationwide over the next decade, according to an analysis commissioned by the BlueGreen Alliance — an organization uniting labor unions and environmental organizations. Skilled trades workers comprise most of the workforce constructing green energy projects.
For example, about 245 workers are on-site each day building the Duane Arnold Solar projects, according to NextEra spokesperson Megan Murphy Salyer. Of those, 98 percent are in the skilled trades, and 70 percent are in a registered apprenticeship program. Almost all the workers are from Iowa.
The Duane Arnold Solar development project near Palo on Nov. 9. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)
More clean energy projects in Iowa mean more available jobs. Last year, the sector supported 31,288 jobs in Iowa, or 2 percent of the state’s workforce, marking a 3.5 percent growth from 2021.
“There’s definitely going to be a need for clean energy — not only in Iowa, but nationwide. And we want our people trained and skilled to be able to deliver those projects,” said Ryan Hollinrake, training coordinator for the Operating Engineers Local 234 Apprenticeship and Training Program. “We did that years ago when building coal-fired power plants, and now we need to transition to the new industries and building those out as well.”
Apprentices drawn to ‘really good jobs’
James Althouse, 24, of West Des Moines, is an apprentice in the Operating Engineers Local 234 program, where he’s learning to operate million-dollar machines that push, excavate, carry, hoist, cut and condense dirt and other materials on construction sites. Read also : Arcedo Systems Introduces Integrated Battery Energy Storage and Solar PV Plant – SolarQuarter.
It’s not his first time working with such mammoth — and expensive — equipment. He did so throughout his four years in the U.S. Army. Now, he’s operating a scraper on the Duane Arnold Solar site, which hauls materials around the work site and levels the ground before construction.
“It’s not much different, except it’s better quality,” Althouse said. His favorite part of the job is “driving by (projects) and you’re like, ‘Hey, I did that.’”
Skilled trades workers typically start their journeys in apprenticeship programs. Iowa’s registered apprenticeship program is administered by the Iowa Economic Development Authority and has trained close to 8,000 apprentices in more than1,000 occupations. Many of these programs are run through unions, which act as advocates for skilled trades workers, maintaining their benefits and pay rates between jobs and connecting them to different opportunities.
The programs advertise an “earn while you learn” model: Apprentices go through the programs — most of which have no out-of-pocket tuition costs — and earn money as they shadow more experienced workers at job sites. The apprentices graduate the programs once they reach a certain number of hours and, often, once they pass a final training test.
Apprentices in Iowa typically earn about $20 per hour for their work on job sites while they’re training. Most also receive benefits, like health insurance and pension contributions. They see incremental pay raises as they progress through their programs. Compensation for more experienced skilled trades workers can reach as high as $40 an hour plus benefits.
“These are really good jobs,” Clark-Bennett said. “The skilled trades have been one of our best kept secrets.”
More recognition of the skilled trades, along with more open positions in the sectors, is driving more people toward Iowa’s registered apprenticeship programs.
Enrollment at Laborers’ Local 43, for instance, is currently above the national average and triple what it was in February.
IBEW Local 704 apprentice Hunter Leibfried bends conduit at the Cedar Rapids Electrical Training Center in Cedar Rapids on Sept. 25. Green Energy development projects such as the Duane Arnold Solar development has led to an increased demand for skilled tradesmen. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)
The Cedar Rapids Electrical Training Center, which trains people in the electrical industry, accepted its largest class ever this year with 48 apprentices, about double the program’s historical average. The program is even outgrowing its building — again, after an addition in 2010, said Jebediah Novak, the center’s training director. The center may gain another expansion if growth continues.
“Everything’s going that way. They’re finding more and more ways to wire things up that normally don’t need electricity,” he said. “As they continue to do that, we’re going to be on it.”
Future growth
Randi Hedgpath, 30, of Rowley, is in her second year of the three-year Ironworkers Local 89 apprenticeship program.
She reinforces concrete with steel and helps construct the metal skeletons of newborn buildings. She also worked on the Duane Arnold Solar projects site, where she secured power inverters to the base of solar panels.
She’s currently the only woman in her apprenticeship program — and she calls it the best thing she has ever done. Her hours give her flexibility to shuttle her three kids around during football season. Her pay supports her family, along with that of her youngest son’s father, who is an operator himself.
“There’s always the challenges of being a woman on a job site,” she said. “But at (Ironworkers Local) 89, as far as the Iowa workers, they have been really accepting. They’re always willing to teach me, and I don’t get treated differently than any of the other guys.”
Randi Hedgpath stands for a portrait in Center Point on Nov. 8. Hedgpath is an apprentice with Ironworkers Local 89 and worked on the installation of power inverters at the Duane Arnold solar project. She said her work hours give her flexibility to shuttle her three kids around and her pay supports her family. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)
The shift to renewable energy coincides with less demand for jobs in the non-renewable sector. Skilled tradespeople now are working more on decommissioning non-renewable projects than building new ones. There’s little to no jobs available at existing non-renewable projects, some workers told The Gazette.
That transition leaves specialized workers in non-renewable industries, like coal, vulnerable to unemployment.
Organizations like the Iowa BlueGreen Alliance are having conversations about how to best support those workers, Clark-Bennett said. That could include training them for other industries and ensuring their wages and benefits are just. Being in a union can help workers organize and negotiate with utilities through their transitions, including training opportunities and severance packages.
“These are the folks who have been powering our communities for decades, who’ve taken risks, who’ve done difficult, often dangerous work, to power our communities,” she said. “How can we ensure that they are at the table?”
As money continues to flow toward green initiatives, making the renewable sector bloom, there’s no end in sight for demand for skilled trades workers and gigs.
“We’re just at the start. We’re just in the baby steps,” said Dan Ness, training coordinator for Laborers Local 43. “I’d say the next five, six years are going to be rock solid. … (The new projects) are going to need manpower.”
Brittney J. Miller is the Energy & Environment Reporter for The Gazette and a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.
Comments: (319) 398-8370; brittney.miller@thegazette.com
