Contact:
Nick Hylla
Instructor Development
Midwest Renewable Energy Association
7558 Deer Rd, Custer, WI 54423
715-592-6595 x107, nick@the-mrea.org
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced late last week that it had selected a Wisconsin-based non-profit organization to provide solar energy training and resources to technical and community college instructors across the Midwest. The Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) has been teaching about solar electric and solar thermal technologies since 1990 and has offices in Custer and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
With $3.3 million in funding over five years, the MREA will work with training partners in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, and Minnesota to offer instructor training institutes, provide instructional resources, and organize a network of Midwest solar training programs.
This effort is part of a national initiative by the DOE, in which eight other organizations have been funded to advance similar efforts in other regions of the country. The trainings and resources will help advance instruction about solar electric and solar heating and cooling technologies, increasing the quality and availability of training programs across the U.S.
Dr. Tehri Parker, the executive director of the MREA, is excited about this ‘new era’ of solar training. “Training in solar electric and solar thermal technologies belongs in every technical and community college across the country. It should be a fundamental component of degree programs that focus on electrical engineering, HVAC, plumbing, and related fields.”
The MREA offers courses in solar electric, solar thermal, small wind energy, and green building at its training center, the ReNew the Earth Institute, in Custer, Wisconsin. The MREA has 38 instructors that serve the more than 2,000 people a year that participate in their nationally accredited training programs. The award from the DOE will allow the MREA to strengthen its partnerships throughout the Midwest and serve the growing demand for instructor training.
For information about the MREA and its training programs, visit http://www.the-mrea.org. To find out more about the Department of Energy’s solar market transformation initiative, including the solar installer instructor training network, visit http://www.eere.energy.gov.
