 It's Friday. It's Wednesday, I mean, already. It feels like Friday because it's a short week. This is Mitch, you and your host for Hawaii, the state of clean energy. And I'm really pleased to have Maria Tomey for the Hawaii State Energy Office. And she's the Managing Director Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. So welcome to the show, Maria. Thank you. It's wonderful to be here. And it should be Friday, but happy Wednesday. So Maria is going to talk to us today about energizing Hawaii's workforce. That's a really interesting topic. And she's got some slides and a lot of information to impart. I've had a quick preview and it looks like a really interesting program. So Maria, tell us about energizing Hawaii's workforce. How are we going to do that? What does it mean? Okay, thanks. Well, as you know, the Hawaii State Energy Office is now attached to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. And so, you know, whereas previously, when we talked about Hawaii's energy future, it was very often about our resources and technologies, and we didn't worry too much about who was going to be doing the work. Because, you know, even if you're doing a construction project, if people had to be brought in for that, you know, our unemployment rate was like 2%, you know, or 3%. And so there, you know, there wasn't a lot of extra folks looking for work. But things are different now. And so we're looking at three parts. We started off looking at, okay, we've got a bunch of big energy projects that are phase one, HECOs, RFP on the Big Island, on Maui, on Oahu. Those have employment potential in the short term, you know, once they start building out next year, that's an opportunity. And we started to wonder, you know, do Hawaii's workers have the necessary skills? And also, if we have a bunch of projects now with phase two as well, you know, how do those skills match up with the needs of the project? So we started looking at the big projects and reaching out to folks. And then of course, there's also the fact that if we're not focusing on tourism as much, what else is there? And energy really is a continuing need. And we are producing our energy here. You know, as you know, we're not connected to the mainland, right? So we, you know, we do have a continuing need for energy. Great opportunities, I think we could call it vast untapped reserves of efficiency. Everything that we're using energy for, you know, we should look at and figure out if there's a way to do it more efficiently. And now is actually a good time to do it if we can direct some of that energy into that effort. The third thing, of course, is the potential with CARES Act funding or other federal funding that might come into Hawaii. Now you may recall back in 2009, 2008, you know, when the Recovery Act funding was directed to states to help them with economic recovery, there was a lot of funding that had to move very quickly. And so if that happens again, we wanted to be prepared at least know what kinds of jobs are there in the energy sector, what kinds of potential for earn while you learn or skills development, you know, whether it's a short term or a longer term. So I've got some slides as mentioned, and I'll just go through the phases and the approach that we're taking to answer the question about, you know, what role does energy play in workforce development? And conversely, what role do Hawaii's people have in the new energy area? Because there is some new stuff happening here too. So I have a top level question before we get into the slides. Let's talk about the funding for this first start is, you know, you mentioned the CARES Act funding. I understand it has to be spent before the end of the year. Is that actually spent or encumbered or committed to a project? My understanding is it was it's got to be spent. And so that's why there are several, several approaches happening simultaneously. And so I'm just talking about the one that, you know, we had heard about and got us interested because it does talk about the innovation space. So, you know, maybe we can go through the slides I have. Sure. Okay, well, I just wanted to know top level, you know, what the, what the, my understanding was spent by but then again, that's the CARES Act, which was, you know, kind of the beginning, right? But there is continuing discussion about a need for more possibly. So it's possible that whatever we develop for the CARES Act funding may continue or expand if additional funding becomes available. Got it. So let's throw up through your first slide here, Maria. Okay. So we looked for the NASEO, National Association of State Energy Officials had done a study on what the energy jobs in America are. And we found that interesting as a starting point, right? So it's a national study and it was using federal data. And so in the energy sector, they identified in Hawaii, the, I guess we can go back to the slide there. Thanks. So electric power generation, they estimate about 6,000 jobs and in the energy efficiency side also about 6,000 jobs. So these are, you know, this is the existing economy as it was in 2019, right? These are 2018 and 2019 numbers that were published in 2020. But you get a sense. I mean, it's not going to take up all of the missing jobs throughout the economy, but it helps, right? So to understand what exists is very helpful. So next slide, please. Now, when you look at energy efficiency, you've got your lighting, your HVAC, which is heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, and then you've got high efficiency and renewable heating and cooling and vast materials and insulation and others. Now, if you think about our buildings and you think about all the vast reserves of efficiency, there is a lot that we could be doing in this area. And so if funding becomes available and we have the workforce available or can, you know, if we need more folks to be trained in this area, it provides lasting benefit, you know, because your buildings are actually using a lot of your energy. I think it was like 40% of the energy goes, I mean, electricity goes to building systems. And so that's a great area for us to focus on our own needs during this time when things are quiet and, you know, for ourselves. It's an investment, actually. It's an investment in ourselves. Yeah. So, you know, you're reducing your energy requirements. So that's great. You know, if the heat comes into your building and you're trying to air condition it out, that's spending a lot of money, you know. And so some of the energy efficiency programs that we're already paying for on our energy bills, you know, the value of every penny in the energy efficiency area that displaces a kilowatt hour. I mean, some of your displacement measures, it's really one cent or two cents or a few cents for a kilowatt hour displaced instead of paying, you know, 20-something or 30-something cents when you have to buy that electricity. And we think of all the buildings that the state government has to keep cool, you know. It's like millions and millions of dollars that, you know, we could be saving and putting back into our programs. So, you know, right now we really have to be smart now because we have no slack. Yeah. So finding places where people could be doing that work, saving the saving money, reducing our emissions, and putting people to work. And you can actually see how the money is going to support jobs. It's not some theory. It's actually, you can actually see it happening in real time. So, yeah. So then the question becomes, well, is it easy to get the people with those skills? And in the energy sector, according to this report, folks were saying that, yeah, there is a need for skills development. And so once again, if people have the time and the interest and we can find out what skills are needed and then working with the folks who provide the training, you know, it's an opportunity to strengthen this part of our economy. So, and I think, you know, if people are interested in this, you know, this is a report that is available on the website. And I think I captured that in the first slide talking about this study. But, you know, the competition, you know, the employers gave the following reasons for the difficulty is competition, small applicant pool, that is true. But then again, now we have more applicants possibly and possibly an interest in this area. Lack of experience training or technical skills, we can fix that. The industry specific knowledge skills and interests, you know, this is all related. So getting the word out that, you know, the energy sector is still is still going strong. And there are opportunities here. So just a comment. So people who have been in the tourism industry here in Hawaii, you know, everybody says it's not going to snap right back. It's going to take quite a long time. So, you know, maybe now's the time to be really looking and saying, do I want another career? Because this one kind of looks a little bit shaky right now. So maybe I should be looking for something a little bit more stable. And, you know, if you're, you know, if you're interested, then this is great that the, you know, state energy office putting forward this kind of a program to develop new skills that have jobs available. So now we're talking about the CARES Act funding. So this this is the one that has to be spent by the end of the year. And this is just an example that there was, you know, media coverage about this. But like anything else, if you are creating something new, you have to figure it all out and get things in place. And so at the moment, there is actually, there are several efforts going along, and you can apply. So the next slide shows the Aloha Connects Innovation. So there are several programs. One is through KUPU and it really focuses on outdoor type of activities, conservation work, agricultural work. But there's another piece of this, which is the innovation side, the energy side. These are things, as it says here, things that are not connected to tourism necessarily, trying to develop the other sides of Hawaii's economy that have great potential. So I have a question before we go to the next slide. So circling back a little bit on the money side, so it has to be all spent by the end of the year. So when did you actually start working? When did the funds become available? And when did you start like expending money? And what kind of things do you have to spend it on, you know, priming the program up? How can you work through ten million dollars in like six months? Actually, they have not started spending it per se yet. The program period is from September through December. So it'll be three months. And that's why it's kind of like an internship. It's an opportunity for folks who are interested in trying this out. You know, one of the beauties of the internships, you know, usually it's in college, right? You go and work someplace for several months and you get familiar with what the work is like. You develop some skills. They see if your skills and interests and abilities fit with what they need. And it's not like you got hired and then you left the job really. It's a training kind of opportunity. But in this case, the people who probably are most likely to apply for it, they already know some of the basic job skills, you know, show up on time and address appropriately, you know, the business, you know, the whole business ethic part of it is already there. It's only the skills piece. But it is an opportunity for them to get into a new area and to get some get some new skills. So it's it's the same benefits as you have, you know, the college students who do internships are able to get this. But it's it's an opportunity for a broader pool of applicants. And so just because if it says intern, don't don't think it's got to be fresh out of school, fresh out of high school, you know, it's for any displaced displaced workers who are interested. So the next slide gives a little more information on the industries. You can see there are aerospace, agri-tech, aquaculture, clean energy, creative industries, healthcare, local foods production, manufacturing, natural resource management, STEM fields, sustainable communities, cybersecurity, waste reduction, and more. And so basically anything that's not really tourism related, you know, getting into the innovation economy is eligible for this. And so they're looking for displaced workers, recent graduates. And on the business side, they are actually inviting applicants to say, okay, I've you know, I need workers. I would love somebody else is going to pay the workers, somebody else is going to provide the health insurance for these workers, try them out very low risk for the for the companies. Okay, sounds great. So on the next on the next slide. So this this is the contact email, well, website and email for EDA Hawaii.org. And then on the next slide is what you'll get if you go to that website. They're not exactly up and running yet. They have one more step. They're 90, 95% there. But the contract still needs to be signed in order to actually launch and be able to so you have a best guess of when it's going to be ready. Oh, I don't a couple of weeks, I'm saying is when it would probably, you know, because everybody's working really hard to get get the thing going. But the beauty of it is it's kind of the first step of what we hope will be followed on by more, you know, we hope that it will be a chance to show how it works, so that it can expand and include even more companies and even more employees as you know, as more funding becomes available. So it's like taking a test drive, you're going to kick the tires, see what works well, what doesn't work well, tune it up. Yeah, it's like really great by the time you've gone through the first phase. Yeah, so it's the innovation side of the innovation economy, they're inventing, you know, so they should, yeah, so I expect it will be, you know, a very, very valuable opportunity to make use of this, the new media, you know, and on the next slide, you can talk about, okay, so that's, that's something that's coming and will be very quick moving once it gets here. So keep, you know, so keep your eyes open next week or two, you know, maybe you'll see, and they can sign up now on that website, they can sign up the companies, the individuals who are interested can sign up. Okay, so they get a notice when you're ready to rock and roll, correct? Right, yeah, now this, but that's, you know, you don't have to wait, if you need a job now, Hawaii is hiring is the website that has lists of existing jobs. Now this is your traditional getting a job, right? There is also an opportunity here to find existing training. So it's not the CARES Act funding, and, you know, you're not going to possibly run out of the opportunity at the end of the year. So it's not as experimental, I should say, it's really more traditional, apply for the job or find the training, you know, you kind of know what you're going to be doing in this, you know, with the Hawaii is hiring website, although they are very, they're connected, you know, I mean, the Hawaii's small, right? And so you can do, you know, you can look on the Hawaii's hiring page and maybe get started with that and also keep an eye out for the CARES Act funding opportunities as well. So I have a question before we go to the next slide, is like this brings up a question in my mind. So here's like an organization that's already in place doing hiring and doing some training and all that. But, you know, the first part of the program, how is this training going to be delivered? Are you, is UH going to be involved? Or, you know, how do we actually deliver this training to these folks? Or is it supposed to be like on the job training, they go to a company and then the company trains them up? How does that work? And I'm not, you know, I'm really not sure that there is just one model, and that would be a great topic for our next, for our next think tank, is to get those folks who are, you know, directly involved in that delivery of these, of these programs. That would be a great question for them. Okay, I noted down in my pad, next time we get together, here's that, by that time, you'll know the answer, right? Right. Okay, let's keep on going, I guess. Okay, so we were starting talking a little bit about the potential for not just what exists, you know, the energy efficiency side of things, or existing companies hiring to do work that is already there. There's this potential for the large projects. And so since this is a new and different area, we thought we should take a closer look at it. And people often say, well, I know there's a bunch of projects, how many jobs? And so we tried to estimate, and so these are the results of our estimates. So you've got construction jobs to build, you know, like the solar farms, you know, the energy storage projects. And then you've got a few jobs to operate them long, long term. But really, since we're expecting that the most difficult time in our economy is in the next couple of years, we are particularly interested in the temporary jobs, because those are well-paying construction jobs. And the solar farms don't get built in a week. I mean, this is a many months. It takes several months. It takes a lot. Maybe five or six months to build them. You know, one of these megawatt scale solar farms. There's a lot involved in it. Yeah, definitely. And so, you know, we do not yet have the whole picture of it but we're trying to also coordinate that because when, you know, we've got a critical mass, I believe, to actually keep this going because if you have, you know, you look at the phase one projects or stage one, there are eight of them, right? And then you've got the next one. There are about 15 of those, you know, and so there will be some kind of a sequencing where, yeah, maybe you're doing the construction for one project, but there's probably another one or two. And then, of course, further phases as we get up to 100% renewable. I mean, we're looking at, what, 30% by the end of this year? You know, that's, there's a lot more. So we've got the energy efficiency side. We've got rooftop solar as well. And you've got the large energy projects. Also, the smart grid, the electric vehicle chargers and a lot of other innovative work and some hydrogen thing possibly, Mitch. For sure. So we do on our state energy office website have a renewable energy project map because, you know, if you're looking for work and you're wondering what projects are in your neighborhood, whatever, you know, we thought it would be helpful to have maps of not only the projects that are coming up, but also the ones that are in place. And so this lets you search by technology, by island, even by the project name, you can zoom in on the map, you can download an Excel file of the projects. And, you know, so we try to keep this updated based on what we are able to find in public announcements and those types of things. And so we hope that this can help not only the folks who are maybe looking for work, but also just interested in energy on their island or interested in the energy area to be informed about what's there. There's a lot of stuff that's already there. And also what's coming. So to sum up our phased approach, we're looking for things that have immediate impact. And that's why we're trying to keep on top of what's coming out that's the funding available or training available for existing jobs and existing skills. Short term strengthening, we're looking at, you know, making Hawaii's workforce able to access the training needed to not only do the work, but also make our buildings smarter and more efficient and get those projects done in a timely manner. And then long term sustained benefits. We're also looking at how to keep things resilient, you know, the clean energy side of things, as well as well integrated with the community. Because it's not just building stuff. It's also understanding and explaining how it all fits together. And we have one more slide to go. Yeah, that's the who was that? Yeah, great. Great. So anyway, I have some more questions, of course. So I would think that just speculating knowing, you know, the community college system should be, you know, purveyors of knowledge. So have you been talking to the? Oh, yes, definitely. Definitely. In fact, yeah, they over over the years, they have had excellent training programs available for everything from the solar installation to, you know, the electricians and, you know, the other skilled trades. And we're, we actually have funding that is been put in place by the legislature the year before, this most recent one, to work with code officials, building code officials to get them familiar with new technologies. Yeah, that's a great idea. There are always new training programs needed. The beauty of the community colleges is they're used to working with the industry, you know, so even in training mechanics, right, they work with the automakers. And they actually have the training that is approved by the automakers for their specific technologies and their specific vehicles. And so you get your, you know, certifications and you get on hands on training. Now in the time of COVID, since this is a global pandemic, there is so much being done with distance learning that it really opens up an opportunity. And I know our community colleges are pursuing this as well. You know, you don't have to send people to a different state if you can bring that training here effectively. Yeah, so that's, that's one of the questions we're asking, you know, when we're talking to the folks who have been thinking of bringing in experts, you know, or trained people from the mainland, it's like, okay, wait, where did they get their training? You know, if Hawaii people can get the training that those other folks had, you know, maybe not as many need to be brought in, and maybe our own folks can develop that those skills here. You know, and so a lot of this distance learning capability I think is being put in place all over, just out of necessity. And so I think it's moving along a lot faster than it would have normally. And since we're so far away, it really does, I think, reduce some of those geographic barriers. Right. So one of the big deals is getting the right syllabus and, you know, the course materials. So I just want to give you an example, I got to get my plug in for hydrogen. So the Hawaii Community College on the Big Island actually took the initiative and reached out me because they knew my buses would be operating soon. Of course, you know, the Helion bus service, you know, they want to make sure that they're, you know, a hydrogen bus can be maintained. It could be a battery electric bus, but I'm going to promote a hydrogen bus. And so I'm working with the chancellor there to put together a course for workforce development to support the buses. So where do you get the syllabus? Well, there's, you know, two really good sources on the mainland. There's Sunline Transport who have a fleet of about 10 or 12 hydrogen buses. And they have, they have a whole training program. And, you know, I've been to the Zero Mission Bus Conference and talked to them and they're more than pleased to share. That's the thing I found amazing is like none of this competitive stuff and keeping it close to the chest. They're quite happy to share their course materials with us. And I also reached out to General Motors who very kindly said, yeah, we're happy to share our, you know, electric vehicle and hydrogen vehicle training program. So that's what we're going to try to do is import, like you said, import the materials, maybe import like guest instructors to give the, you know, give the course and then, you know, and then train, you know, train the trainer here. And, you know, the nice thing about Zoom, for example, is you can hit a record button and you can actually record the whole thing. So there you both, you know, automatically have a course that you can get. The only other part of it would be like the hands on part where they can actually, you know, take a fuel cell apart or whatever it is apart, or, you know, I know how to install a battery. And so there's ways to do that as well. So, you know, kind of what you're doing, what the energy office is doing is great. And I'm going to make sure the Hawaii Community College knows about it, about this program. And anybody else listening out here, if you have any bright ideas, I guess they should be contacting you, Maria, like if they have ideas on how they can train workforce. That's something that at least they should be talking to you guys about. So, I mean, maybe you might even want to put together like a little workshop. It could be done online where we get interesting parties, just trading information, because it's really, really, really effective. And, you know, it's something we can be doing to leverage our technology and get it out there. So I'll stop talking and give you a chance to react. Yeah, no, I think that's, that's exactly, exactly in line with what we're trying to do. What's needed, what do we have, and how can we bring the pieces together, you know, especially in the energy, in the energy space. And we don't need to reinvent the delivery mechanisms, you know, the apprenticeship program design. I mean, some people have figured that out. But when money becomes available for us to direct to the work that needs to be done, we want to be prepared so that we can put the people and the jobs and the funding together. Well, on that happy note, we're out of time. It went by really quickly, didn't it? It always does. And I want to wrap up and say it's a really great program that the Hawaii Energy, State Energy Office is putting together to help develop our workforce. And I'd like to thank Maria. And you can put the last slide up so we remember how to contact her. And we're gonna say aloha until next Wednesday. Thank you so much, Maria. Take care. Aloha, bye.