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DoE Smart Grid Project

About the Smart Grid Project

Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean Energy logo

Project Overview

The Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean Energy (PNCECE) is a Centralia College Partnership that includes: consumer-owned and investor-owned utilities; a federal power-marketing administration (the Bonneville Power Administration); organized labor; a national laboratory (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory); and numerous community colleges and universities located in the Pacific Northwest region represented by Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Utah.

Through a $12 million grant awarded in 2010 by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Washington State model is being replicated to serve the five partner states in the Pacific Northwest and establish energy training satellites to identify Smart Grid training needs across select supply and demand-side energy occupations, to improve internal job progression in utilities and to create a centralized training and recruiting portal. The grant application was endorsed by four Governors, 11 U.S. Legislators representing Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and NEET Executive Board members representing the Pacific Northwest states.

The Center model was endorsed by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Taskforce (NEET), a regional executive committee of 28 senior-level representatives from utilities, state government, electric customers, public interest advocates, energy efficiency companies and energy industry specialists from across the Pacific Northwest region. NEET's 2009 Energy Workforce report charged the Center at Centralia College with leading a coordinated, strategic approach to clean energy workforce development for the region in which the Center would work with regional partners to: 1) define energy efficiency jobs, 2) establish skill standards and identify job classifications for use regionally, and 3) create a regional clearinghouse for energy efficiency job openings.

Acceleration of Smart Grid development in the Pacific Northwest region has implications for both supply side and demand side functions of the energy industry. As a result, the Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean Energy partnership will identify the workforce training needs, utilize currently developed programs and deliver workforce training to meet the needs of the following occupations related to Smart Grid:

Supply Side Occupations Demand Side Occupations
Instrument Control/Relay Specialist (Generation and Load Dispatchers) Customer Service Reps
Generation, Load and Substation Operators Meter Technicians
Line Worker (Apprenticeship Preparation, Apprenticeship, and Incumbent Workers) Energy Advisors
Substation Wireman/Mechanics (Apprenticeship Preparation, Apprenticeship, and Incumbent Workers) Energy Conservation Program Administrators
Ground Crews (utility construction worker) Resource Conservation Managers