New Mexico is aiming to undergo a major clean energy transition over the next couple of decades, but one thing is missing: Enough workers to make that transition actually happen.
The Renewable Energy Industries Association of New Mexico hosted its inaugural Electrify New Mexico event earlier this month, gathering business and industry leaders to talk about a state and national transition to clean energy.
A recurring theme experts discussed at the conference was the lack of workers New Mexico has to fuel the state’s renewable energy transition.
Adam Harper, CEO of OE Solar and one of the panelists at the event, told the Journal the availability of a qualified workforce is the largest challenge his company is facing.
“The sheer volume of qualified workforce out there, it’s just not there,” he said.
He said while there’s been an influx of installers, more advanced positions are harder to fill. For example, he said, designers coming to the utility or industrial market from a residential field don’t have all the same skills and typically need a couple more years of training.
The same is true of workers focused on engineering, interconnection or project management, he said.
“So even though they’re around, they don’t still have, necessarily, the qualifications,” he said.
Harper said the state will especially need these workers in the next couple of years as community solar, a program in which utilities will transmit solar energy from small-scale farms to participating apartments or houses, ramps up and rolls out.
“The industry is going to swell so much that there’s going to be folks that are going to be able to get on-the-job training,” he said.
But training takes time, he said, and the potential for future qualified workers doesn’t help companies get through the short-term workforce challenges.
Jordan Barry, director of solar at EverGuard Solar, told the Journal he also struggles to find workers with more advanced skills. For example, he said, someone who can look at a set of plans and picture what the company needs is hard to find.
“It’s a lot more challenging than I thought it would be, to be honest,” he said.
Brian Brklacich took a trade class at Central New Mexico Community College, thinking it would get him a job as a solar installer. He told the Journal he found out he didn’t really need the certificate just to do installation, but now, a lot more doors at mid-level positions are open for him.
He said it feels like there are a lot of jobs out there for him.
“It’s not just electrical work. It’s not just slapping panels on roofs,” he said. “The industry as a whole is moving so quickly that even just an introduction to the basics and code basics gives you a foundation to go just about anywhere.”
Incentivizing work in NM
Barry said the energy-worker shortage stems from people leaving the state. He said he’s had to do outreach in other states, trying to find independent contractors who can get work done.
“I don’t know what the solution is,” he said.
Karen Paramanandam is the marketing manager at Unirac Inc., a solar energy equipment supplier in Albuquerque. She said on a panel at the Electrify NM conference other states have incredible resources aimed at pulling in entrepreneurs or businesses, and New Mexico needs to consider how to attract that workforce.
“We would rather our young people get trained in these future jobs, which will move New Mexico into a position of leadership,” she said.
It takes time and education to get additional certificates and training, opening up the possibility to enter a more advanced trades field.
Barry said it’s hard work to do school full time and work.
“Getting a (bachelor’s) degree in some sort of engineering would probably take me out of the workforce,” he said. “I just can’t afford that.”
He also mentioned that New Mexico’s Opportunity Scholarship, which pays for college tuition, is great, but it only covers training certificates and associate and bachelor’s degrees, not more advanced degrees that some jobs require.
Patricia Sullivan is the director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives at New Mexico State University. She said on the panel that the Workforce Development and Apprenticeship Fund lawmakers passed in the 2024 legislative session can help and is important because of how difficult it is for people to go back to school and learn another skill.
The State Investment Council will start managing that $30 million fund in fiscal year 2025, and the fund will annually send money into an existing public works apprentice and training fund.
“Too often, people that are in transition in the workforce are either without an income or rely on scholarships,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said a lot of students aren’t aware of the trade educational opportunities in New Mexico. Similarly, Paramanandam said a lot of students entering the workforce often aren’t thinking of manufacturing.
“I think the mindset of folks entering the industry needs to change,” she said.
She and another educator, Geneva Look at Santa Fe Community College, said their schools are working to learn what skills are needed in the field.
“It’s a real learning curve for the students, for the instructors,” Look said.
She said technology is rapidly advancing in the energy market, but the labor market didn’t come with it.
“We can have all the solar panels. We can have all the heat pumps. We can have all the sustainability. But that labor market’s got to go with it,” she said.
Marlene Brown, a faculty member at CNM who teaches a certified solar program, said the energy industry often ebbs and tides as politicians go back and forth on different policies, and it needs to be more consistent. She agreed that New Mexico needs to get more people into all levels of the energy workforce.
“We need to create opportunities, internships and make them compelling,” she said.
One of her students, Andres Guerrero, is finishing up his second year at CNM to get his associate degree. He said money for clean energy depends on political administrations, which can be discouraging to students thinking of entering the field.
“If there were better incentives or guarantees that they wouldn’t be lowered in the future, more people would go towards it,” he said.
Another student, Adam Archuleta, also said it’s going to take time for people to realize the clean energy transition is happening and join the workforce .
“There will always be work,” he said.
Harper said he’s optimistic about the workforce growing. He said he grew up in a small town in the state and there are plenty of hard workers.
“New Mexico’s a little bit unique in the mere fact that since we are such a rural state, all of us are just used to working so hard and so much that I think we have the will; we just need the opportunity,” he said.
He said it’s an odd moment ,right now, because there’s a lot of demand but not quite enough qualified workers.
“We’re just in this weird flux that hasn’t quite got to the point to be able to drive all of the hiring,” he said. “But we’re on the precipice of doing that.”
