SEI to open training school in South Carolina

August 27, 2010

Florida company Solar Energy Initiatives, Inc., is to open up a solar training school in South Carolina.

The firm said this week it has received approval from the Waccamaw Workforce Investment Board to be an Eligible Training Provider in the state.

The Solar Installation School will be developed by Solar Energy’s subsidiary Solar EOS, designed to train prospective solar installers and in theory and design as well as providing some hands-on experience.

It will be provided with the Waccamaw Workforce Division, one of 12 workforce investment areas in the state.

Students will be offered an eight-week course offering 200 hours of classroom learning and more than 30 hours of hands-on training, using current solar thermal and photovoltaic equipment.

The school will be the company’s second, with Solar EOS already running a program at the Community Rehabilitation Center Institute in North Jacksonville, Florida.

“Intense learning”

Ellen Leroy-Reed, President of Solar EOS, said the partnership with Waccamaw’s Workforce Division would see the training of nearly 200 students during the next year.

She said: “Our students have the advantage of eight weeks of intense learning on both theory and application of solar strategies which allows them to be an effective member of an organization on Day One of employment.”

“It is our mission to Renew South Carolina by introducing highly trained and well qualified solar technicians to the state’s workforce. Then, South Carolina will be prepared for the new solar economy,” Ms Leroy-Reed added.

Denise Day, Waccamaw’s Workforce Development Administrator, said: “Waccamaw is pleased to have Solar EOS on board as an Eligible Training Provider. Giving our clients’ access to solar training is a significant benefit which will allow them to successfully compete for higher-paying technical jobs. South Carolina will benefit, and our people will benefit, by training our workforce in green jobs and the solar industry.”