Mass. high schoolers to get a jump start on offshore wind job training

Up to 125 high school students are expected to participate next school year as a new Clean Energy Innovation Career Pathway launches to provide hands-on learning geared towards jobs in the renewable energy sector, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said in a report this month.

With ambitious mid-century emission reduction targets on the books, Massachusetts wants to electrify heating and cooling, personal vehicle travel and more. But the state will need more than 30,000 new workers who can install heat pumps, prepare residential homes to charge electric vehicles, build offshore wind farms, and more to get there.

The 2022 climate and energy law required DESE and the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to design and implement a pilot program that could connect students to academic and technical skills that will prepare them for jobs in the offshore wind industry that state official hope to grow here.

Five schools — Carver Middle High School, Hadley-Hopkins Academy, Norwood High School, Reading Memorial High School and Revere-CityLab Innovation School — received planning grants of up to $25,000 to prepare to offer the pathway for the 2024-2025 school year. DESE said it expects to have 100-125 students enrolled.

"Students in these programs will explore a future in the critical renewable energy sector by working with employers in the field like the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and their Wind Technology Testing Center to train the next generation of clean energy leaders and meet the workforce needs of the growing renewable energy sector," DESE wrote in its report to the Legislature. "Signature learning experiences include advanced coursework, employer-engaged work-based learning, and career planning related to the industry. DESE and partners will work with the schools to identify best practices and develop implementation tool kits that can then be adopted by other high schools."

The program is meant to develop the next generation of clean energy workers by making industry-recognized credentials and experiential learning opportunities available to students. The same law that created the pilot program calls for DESE to reimburse participating districts $750 for each student who earns "an offshore wind industry-recognized certification for an occupation that has a high employment value or relevant industry-recognized certification that is recognized by any public institution of higher learning in the commonwealth as a basis for academic credit at such institution." They will also get $600 for each student who earns an industry-recognized certification in the offshore wind industry that does not meet the aforementioned criteria "but addresses regional demands identified by the local MassHire Workforce Board."