That the United States needs more power is indisputable.  But the nation needs another kind of power to make that possible: people power.

Workers and engineers who are skilled at building and running power plants and transmission facilities soon will be in high demand.  However, the current supply of skilled workers in the energy sector work force will not meet future demand.

“Any credible program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions must include nuclear energy.  In doing so, the industry will hire and retain tens of thousands of skilled and well-paid workers,” Carol Berrigan, director of industry infrastructure at the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), testified before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Berrigan noted that up to 35 percent of the industry’s work force may be eligible to retire

within five years, but building new plants will require thousands of construction and skilled trade workers.  She encouraged Congress to develop policies that help address this projected imbalance in the work force.

Some federal and state government entities already are involved in efforts to jump-start growth in the energy work force.  The U.S. Department of Labor and the state of Mississippi co-hosted the Energy Skilled Trades Summit this summer in Biloxi.  With support from NEI, the Edison Electric Institute and the American Petroleum Institute, the summit attracted nearly 300 attendees—including energy industry executives and work force professionals, education specialists, and government officials—focused on developing solutions to the issue.

Speakers pointed to effective programs addressing skilled labor shortages in Florida, Texas and Wyoming, calling them models for dealing with the labor shortfall facing the public and private sector in the rest of the country.

Summit attendees participated in state-focused working groups to develop possible solutions for addressing the challenges facing the energy and construction industries.  The working groups are the beginning of an ongoing effort in each state for work force development.  They defined several areas of focus: raising awareness of careers in the industry, education and policy, funding strategies, and accessing untapped pools of labor.

One untapped talent pool may be students who dropped out of engineering school.  They possess technical acumen and may very well be better-suited to the trades.

The summit working groups also recommended gaining access to potential labor pools through community or faith-based organizations.

Lisa Stiles, project leader for strategic staffing and knowledge management at Virginia-based Dominion Resources, applauded the summit’s focus on defining solutions, not just identifying the problem.

“In my state, for instance, we now have an action plan to form the Virginia Energy Workforce Consortium, similar to the successful model that has been used in Florida,” Stiles said.  “Plus, I left the summit with pages of innovative ideas to investigate.”

The Department of Labor announced at the summit that it would provide $10 million in grant funding for programs to support energy and construction work force development—this in addition to $125 million currently available to community and technical colleges through the agency’s community-based job-training grants.

The Labor Department also pledged to continue work with the energy industry by sharing best practices, offering technical support and holding electronic meetings.

The Southern Governors’ Association tackled work force issues in the final session of its recent annual meeting.  Govs. Haley Barbour (R-Miss.), Charlie Crist (R-Fla.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Sonny Perdue (R-Ga.) joined a roundtable of leading energy executives and key labor leaders, including NEI President and Chief Executive Officer Skip Bowman.  Although Bowman acknowledged significant challenges ahead, he offered some hope.

“We are blessed with an untapped labor supply consisting of early retirees who can come back in the work force,” Bowman said.  “That, coupled with separated military personnel and possible foreign labor, can go a long way to helping us meet our demands.”