Solar Energy International (SEI) and SolarReviews announced their partnership to create a scholarship fund that provides financial assistance for U.S. residents with Spanish as their first language seeking solar energy education through SEI. The scholarship aims to increase Hispanic representation among the clean energy industry by awarding $20,000 in solar training tuition fees for SEI’s Spanish courses to hand-selected native Spanish speaking students, helping to facilitate their professional development and eventual entry into the solar energy workforce. Aligned with SolarReviews and SEI’s Diversity Equity & Inclusion efforts, this program will also serve to provide equitable professional development opportunities by awarding $2,500 in solar tuition fees to solar businesses hiring Spanish speakers.
SolarReviews has been supporting the SEI mission for the past three years. This scholarship fund is part of a larger donation that SEI received from SolarReviews in May this year. The remaining funds will be used for curriculum development and to support SEI’s communication efforts to reach more students across the world with solar education.
“Combating climate change requires skilled clean energy workers across the globe. It is estimated that by 2050, the world will need at least 11.9 million solar jobs to meet demand – that’s three-times more than what exists today. SolarReviews is proud to partner with SEI to build a diverse solar energy workforce and support their mission to overcome the skills gap, safety and equity challenges facing widespread solar job training,” said Andy Sendy, founder and president of SolarReviews.
This scholarship aims to build a more inclusive and diverse industry talent pipeline in the solar workforce by empowering Spanish-speaking, soon-to-be energy experts with the necessary solar training provided in their native language. It aligns with SEI’s core values and growing DEI efforts; there is a career for everyone in the solar industry.
“SEI is very grateful for the continued support from SolarReviews.com. Both of our organizations value quality solar installations in order for the solar industry to provide safe and reliable renewable energy sources for residential, commercial, and utility scale applications all over the U.S. Through the financial support from SolarReviews.com, we are able to provide scholarships for underserved populations and ensure a well trained clean energy workforce,” said Chris Turek, marketing and communication director of SEI.
The scholarship funding is open to both students in the U.S. and U.S. territories who have Spanish as their first language and U.S. solar businesses seeking to hire and train native Spanish speaking individuals. Selected candidates will be given tuition funds to cover SEI’s online Spanish training.
