Solar Training Kicks Off on St. Thomas
Virgin Islands government officials in February marked the beginning of the St. Thomas Solar Water Heating Installation Training Program. Twenty-six graduated from the program on St. Croix in January.
The V. I. Energy Office, the V.I. Department of Labor, the V.I. Workforce Board, and the V.I. Department of Education are partnering in the program being funded by the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Dahlia Adams, principal at the Raphael O. Wheatley Skill Center, where the classes are taking placed, called the 17 students in the St. Thomas program ”Solar Pioneers.”
Albert Bryan, Jr., commissioner of labor, said that all the elements were coming together to give these trainees a bright future. “We are taking residents, who are on the periphery of our economy, and bringing them in the mainstream – into green technology.”
Terryl Diggs, administrative assistant, represented the Energy Office. She said that spending funds for career training in green technology was a key component of the Energy Office’s strategy when spending the funds allotted to the office through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Gov. John P. deJongh was the final speaker at the ceremony held in the Skill Center’s math and science room. He told the students attending, “You give us the inspiration to continue doing what we are doing. You are truly solar pioneers.”
The training program has four components – on-line classroom; pre-construction basics; hands-on, in–shop training; and finally on-the-job training. In the on-the-job training portion of the training the students will install solar water heaters on buildings of nonprofit organizations.
In this initial training project, the V.I. Government hopes to train 75 residents.
Information about the program is available at the Energy Office.
At a ceremony Jan. 7, 2010, at Government House in Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI, 26 young men and women became the first to complete the new green technologies training program. The 26 underwent 363 hours of training over 20 weeks. The Virgin Islands Source Internet newspeaper posted the above video on youtube.