ONTILITY Announces Receipt of $3.57M Department of Energy Grant, Solar Train-the-Trainer, for South Central US with Partnered Academic Institutions

Tue Nov 3, 2009 10:00am EST
 
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http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20091103005234/en

HOUSTON--(Business Wire)--
ONTILITY has announced that on October 8, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
awarded one of the nine Solar Installer Instructor grants to the South-Central
Solar Training Consortium lead by Houston Community College System (HCCS) and
based solely on the ONTILITY solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal
curricula. 

In addition to HCCS and ONTILITY, the consortium partners include: Delgado
Community College, New Orleans, LA; American Youth Works Charter School, Austin,
TX; Louisiana Technical College - Lafayette, LA; Houston Works - YouthBuild,
Houston, TX; Cedar Valley College, Lancaster, TX; Louisiana CeanTech Network,
Kenner, LA; and New Orleans YouthBuild, New Orleans, LA. The geographical scope
of this partnership includes enhancing and extending solar training to community
colleges and vocational high schools in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma,
and New Mexico. 

This five-year, $3.57M award, is jointly funded by DOE and the American
Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). The program will create a network of nine
solar training regional resources and training providers. Among the primary
goals, as identified by the DOE, is "to accelerate market adoption of solar
technologies by ensuring that high-quality installations are standard and to
create sustainable jobs within the solar installation industry." 

"The opportunity to participate at the regional and national levels in the
standardization of solar training is nothing short of phenomenal. ONTILITY is
proud and excited to be the sole industry partner in the South-Central
Consortium and is eager to advance and enhance solar training at academic
institutions throughout the region," said Tom Pash, CEO of ONTILITY. "With our
long-standing experience in providing top-quality solar training to industry and
educational partners, we are excited to leverage our 'shovel ready' program to
quickly and effectively scale up the solar installation workforce in the
South-Central region. There is considerable need for not only an
industry-approved, well-trained solar workforce, but also, as DOE identified,
the time is ripe for standardizing solar training in the U.S. ONTILITY looks
forward to working with all of the consortium members to realize our collective
solar training and solar workforce goals for the U.S." 

About ONTILITY

ONTILITY supports provider and consumer sustainability projects through our
best-in-class, end-to-end value chain, the EcoCommunity. ONTILITY and the
ONTILITY Certified Partner Program provides customized renewable and energy
efficient solutions and products for individuals, institutions and entire
communities. ONTILITY connects the nodes in the green value chain through
renewable, efficient, ecologically and economically aware products, services,
training, solutions and technologies to four key markets. ONTILITY and the
ONTILITY Certified Partner Program provide customized solar and energy efficient
solutions and products for:

 Residential - through our ONTILITY Certified Partner Program                        
 Commercial and Utility Scale - in partnership with our ONTILITY Certified Partners  
 Education and Workforce Development - training the green workforce                  
 Communities - enabling sustainability                                               


At ONTILITY, we believe that together we can switch ON our sustainable future
one person, one building, and one community at a time. 

ONTILITY connects the green economy down to the `last mile`. 

More information is available at: 877.558.7479 or www.ontility.com.

ONTILITY
Marketing and Web Strategy
Jeremy Webb, 281.854.1400
jeremy.webb@ontility.com
www.ontility.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009

 

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