The clean energy industry is steadily growing, and the North Shore is well-positioned to benefit if we play our cards right.
By Isaac Dame
Money from the state and developers is coming down the pipeline, but if there aren’t locals trained to do the necessary work, and if current barriers to entry aren’t addressed, the benefits will go to other parts of Massachusetts, to neighboring states, or even international companies. If stakeholders can come together to reduce barriers of cost, language, and culture, and if developers and contractors make commitments to hire locally, there could be a period of growth and stability for the North Shore brought by clean energy.
The growth of the clean energy industry is shown by the 2024 Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) Clean Energy Report. Their accounting found 57,610 clean energy jobs were added from 2010-2023, doubling the industry’s size, with 5% job growth from 2023 to 2024. 84% of clean energy companies found it “difficult” to find qualified candidates – there should be chances for those who learn the qualifications to find work.
State money will boost that growth, as the MassLeads Act establishes $400 million in state funding for climate tech initiatives. To coordinate and prepare for this investment, a group of 60+ Northeastern Massachusetts leaders across sectors met in March to discuss the region’s strengths and limitations. They (as the Northeastern Massachusetts Climatetech Consortium) released a summarizing report: the region has a base of innovators, education institutions, and an attitude of regional pride and cooperation. Some of our challenges are high costs of living relative to wages, limited visibility at the state level, and especially training and education. The local workforce needs to be competitive with those in other states to secure placements and contracts in climatetech, even for projects that are based in the region.
The North Shore Economic Alliance’s report echoes the North Shore Blue Economy Report published by the UMass Amherst Gloucester Marine Station in 2021. This report emphasized, alongside opportunities for collaboration, fundraising, and marketing, the potential unlocked through workforce development. If research institutions, higher education, governments, and trainers align their training with each other and with regional economic needs, it could unlock high-paying, stable jobs for locals and keep people in the area.
These observations line up with my findings from researching the wind port in New Bedford: state companies and laborers need to quickly expand their skills to give contractors a local alternative to their current European and national options. But given this reality, what is being done to develop our workforce?
One program is MassCEC’s Offshore Wind Works, which supports academic institutions, the trades, nonprofits, and wind businesses in Massachusetts as they build new training infrastructure, target their recruitment to underserved communities, and incorporate renewable energy opportunities into their work. Notably, Salem Public Schools secured funding from them last year to build a Career and Technical Education training facility for offshore wind. The program includes a Community of Practice, where grant recipients and relevant organizations meet to share insights and align priorities. Key partners include ARROW, an offshore wind-focused graduate program, MassHire, and various trade unions.
Trade unions are essential to getting local workers the skills and placements they need to benefit from new opportunities. New England’s electricians, carpenters, ironworkers, and pile drivers gained Wind Works funding to pay for individuals to receive offshore wind training, and they are vocal communicators with vocational schools and higher education institutions. In particular, UBC Pile Driver and Diver 56 representative John Dunderdale is an outspoken advocate for the opportunities offshore wind has brought for Massachusetts labor. The New England millwright union and painters, glaziers, and finishers union have worked with MassHire on clean energy recruitment and training. While the unions focus on developing and protecting their trade, rather than advancing a particular city or region, they are essential for developing the North Shore’s workforce; the fact that they have embraced offshore wind and climate tech opens up immense possibilities for the region. However, even with unions in support, vocational schools are the ones who have to develop and implement training that keeps up with industry, prepares the workforce, and opens opportunities to underserved communities.
To fill this need, MassHire North Shore partnered with Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School to create the Sustainable Energy Pre-Apprenticeship Trades Training Program. This program takes candidates from Environmental Justice communities: neighborhoods with household income 65% or less of the state average, and/or 40+% minority population, and/or 25% or less of households don’t speak English well, and/or a mix of minority and household income thresholds. Participants build construction, HVAC, and electrical skills and receive program, OSHA, and electrical certifications. By this fall, 39 North Shore residents will have completed the program. MassHire also organizes a job fair and union visits to help with post-program placement and provides career counseling and support. There have been successes: two students have been placed in a local construction union, one with National Grid, one with ServPro, and two more in HVAC roles (SAFE is currently working on learning and sharing these workers’ stories, so keep your eyes peeled). But most graduates are still looking for their next role, showing the challenges of offshore wind workforce development.
Programs like MassHire’s are partially built to meet current needs and partially built to anticipate needs at the Salem Offshore Wind Terminal and developments in the Gulf of Maine. But when these projects are delayed for months or years, the new workforce is stranded. People trying to break into the trades face upfront costs for training that they may not be able to cover, without a guarantee of work afterwards. Those who do get trained may get burned out by the frustrating placement process. With limited public transportation and increasing costs of living, the margin for error is small. Unions help to fill this gap by creating a more stable base, but they can only meet demand, not create it. Another major obstacle is that immigrants, people of color, and especially women are underrepresented in the trades (source). They may find union environments uncomfortable and face disrespect and limited opportunities from employers. Addressing these concerns is built in to the programs mentioned above, and a remarkable amount of progress has been made in the trades compared to their history. Through the organizing of SAFE and our partners in the Salem Offshore Wind Alliance, they are also incorporated into the Wind Terminal. There, Crowley has agreed to address barriers to entry and to hire local workers.
Salem organizers pushed the city and the port developer to adopt a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that requires Crowley to make contributions to the community. Once construction begins, the CBA requires that Crowley will pay at least $97,500 a year to support Salem Public Schools’ Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. These funds are specifically set aside for equitable access and bilingual programming, raising awareness of port jobs, and covering the cost of equipment and maintenance. They will also commit a rolling $16,000 scholarship fund, equipment donations, staff time for speaking engagements at Salem CTE, and to work with trade unions to develop pre-apprenticeship programs. The CBA also includes Crowley’s goals for local hiring:
These goals are non-binding and will depend on the practices of Vineyard Wind and its contractors, not Crowley itself. However, the fact that these goals are public and clearly stated gives the community leverage to hold these companies accountable and advocate for local workers. While there is frustration while we wait for the port to progress, this document is a clear legal commitment to building up local workers and training young people. It is a tremendous success of community organizing that will move the North Shore forward.
Federal attacks on offshore wind and the resulting delays to projects have made it feel like the industry has lost power. But the projects are still coming, and there are many, many more clean energy and technology opportunities beyond offshore wind. The period of delay and uncertainty is an opportunity to continue building up the North Shore’s workforce. The ties between quasi-state groups (MassCEC and MassHire), developers, trades, vocational and research schools, and community-based organizations (SAFE!) will only get stronger in the coming years as they collaborate to build a new, skilled labor base in the North Shore. Those skills will allow our community members to get local high-paying jobs and give them the stability to build a career and a family in the North Shore.
Issac Dame is SAFE’s Summer Intern.