Diverse and Equitable Workforce in Wind Energy (DEWWind)

The United States is in the midst of an energy transition to cleaner energy sources, including wind, and the demand for a skilled workforce to develop and install wind energy is expected to rise. To assure an equitable and just clean energy transition, the benefits of a clean energy economy—including job creation and workforce development opportunities—must be distributed fairly and encourage participation from under-served and under-represented groups. The Diverse and Equitable Workforce in Wind Energy (DEWWind) project, led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), employs strategic engagement and collaborative capacity-building with minority-serving institutions to increase the scale and diversity of the wind energy workforce.

DEWWind leverages PNNL’s previous data collection and networking efforts, particularly those under the Strategize, Engage, Network, Deploy Distributed Wind and Distributed Wind Market Report projects, to identify collaborators with which to explore workforce development needs, strategize pathways for increased workforce diversity, and develop a replicable workforce development program. The project ultimately aims to support workforce build-out to accelerate distributed wind deployments via institutional and industry collaboration.  

This year, project collaborators will work with PNNL to address local and regional workforce development needs, career entry barriers, and novel recruitment strategies through a series of workshopping events. Please check back later for a workshop summary report, which will be used to inform future program development.