Ørsted and Eversource, developers of Connecticut's first offshore wind farm, Revolution Wind, and the Connecticut State Building Trades Training Institute (CSBTTI), today (July 1) announced the launch of a collaborative, pre-apprenticeship training program for 15 Eastern Connecticut residents.
The upcoming cohort will include 15 trainees from the New London area, where workers at the State Pier are supporting construction of the South Fork Wind, Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind projects. Students will undergo pre-apprenticeship training for union construction careers, which are essential to the nation's clean energy transition.
Revolution Wind has committed $150,000 to the program, which will provide participants with training from skilled union instructors, stipends, transportation, and housing support, along with direct placement into the apprenticeship that most fits them upon completion. The apprenticeship readiness training program will be conducted by the Laborers Union at their training facility located in Pomfret, CT. Those interested in applying can find more information here.
"CSBTTI recruited and will now help prepare local workers for high-quality unionized construction apprenticeships while helping diversify the state's building trades," said Keith Brothers, President of New London/Norwich Building and Construction Trades Council. "We applaud Ørsted and Eversource's commitment to ensuring Connecticut workers benefit from family-sustaining wages and benefits, while also connecting the state's union tradespeople to Connecticut's clean energy future and the economic opportunity presented by offshore wind. We hope to see a diverse pool of applicants, and we encourage women and People of Color to apply."
"As we continue building clean energy infrastructure and creating American energy jobs, it is critical to our mission that we drive workforce development opportunities and support economic mobility for underrepresented Connecticut residents through union construction careers," said Allison Ziogas, Ørsted Head of Labor Relations, Region Americas. "A new domestic supply chain and a local workforce are imperative to the success of the American offshore wind industry. We look forward to working with the Connecticut State Building Trades Training Institute to ensure more local workers especially those from disadvantaged communities have the training they need to earn a living wage while helping the state and the region meet its clean energy goals."
"Our partnership with the Connecticut State Building Trades Training Institute further cements our commitment to bolstering local job training opportunities and providing access to career pathways for Connecticut residents in a clean energy future," said Ray Collins, Manager of Government Affairs at Eversource. "The clean energy transition provides many great opportunities to strengthen the local workforce, and we are excited about this partnership and about empowering New London workers to gain the training and experience needed to successfully navigate a union construction apprenticeship program. It will put them on the track to a future career where they will have the skills to build all kinds of critical infrastructure, including offshore wind."
Program graduates will be placed in registered apprenticeship programs of their choice by the end of 2024, where they will continue to receive support and retention services through the program for a period of two years. Registered apprenticeship programs in the construction industry come with the promise of high-quality career pathways with family-sustaining salaries.
Revolution Wind recently achieved its "steel in the water" milestone with the installation of the project's first turbine foundation, a momentous milestone for Rhode Island and Connecticut's first utility-scale offshore wind farm. Once in operation, it will generate 400 megawatts of clean, affordable offshore wind power for Rhode Island and 304 megawatts of the same for Connecticut, enough clean energy to power more than 350,000 homes across both states and bring each closer to reaching their ambitious climate targets.
The first multi-state offshore wind project and a centerpiece of the region's blue economy, Revolution Wind is directly creating roughly 1,200 jobs across Rhode Island and Connecticut and accelerating the states' clean energy sectors with significant investments in workforce development, union partnerships, shipbuilding, and port infrastructure. The first of Revolution Wind's turbine components have started arriving at State Pier, the staging and marshaling port for the project, where they will be assembled by local union labor.
For more information on Revolution Wind, visit www.revolution-wind.com.
About Connecticut State Building Trades Training Institute
Founded by the CT State Building Trades Council in 2022, the CT State Building Trades Training Institute (BTT) is a feeder to the unionized registered apprenticeship training programs. BTTI provides apprenticeship readiness training to CT residents interested in entering careers in the construction field by applying into registered apprenticeship training programs. BTTI's service delivery model consists of outreach/recruitment, assessment, case management, construction readiness training, assistance with placement into registered apprenticeship training, retention, and support services. Depending on funding sources supportive services are provided and may include one or more of the following: stipends, bus passes, gas cards, childcare assistance, work gear and tools. To learn more about CSBTTI, please visit our website at www.csbtti.org or our Facebook page.
About Ørsted
A global clean energy leader, Ørsted develops, constructs, and operates offshore and land-based wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, and bioenergy plants. Ørsted was the first energy company in the world to have its science-based net-zero emissions target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and is recognized as the world's most sustainable energy developer in the Corporate Knights Global 100 index. In the United States, the company has approximately 700 employees and a portfolio of clean energy assets and partnerships that includes offshore wind energy, land-based wind energy, solar, battery storage and e-fuels. Ørsted is a U.S. leader in offshore wind energy with approximately 3 gigawatts in development and operates both America's first offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Block Island, and the country's first utility-scale offshore wind farm, South Fork Wind. Ørsted has a total U.S. land-based capacity of 5 gigawatts across wind, solar, storage technologies and e-fuels. To learn more about the Ørsted U.S. business, visit us.orsted.com or follow the company on X (@OrstedUS), Instagram, and Facebook.
About Eversource
Eversource (NYSE: ES), celebrated as a national leader for its corporate citizenship, is the #1 energy company in Newsweek's list of America's Most Responsible Companies for 2024 and recognized as a Five-Year Champion, appearing in every edition of the list. Eversource transmits and delivers electricity and natural gas and supplies water to approximately 4.4 million customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The #1 energy efficiency provider in the nation, Eversource harnesses the commitment of approximately 9,900 employees across three states to build a single, united company around the mission of safely delivering reliable energy and water with superior customer service. The company is empowering a clean energy future in the Northeast, with nationally recognized energy efficiency solutions and successful programs to integrate new clean energy resources like a first-in-the-nation networked geothermal pilot project, solar, offshore wind, electric vehicles and battery storage, into the electric system. For more information, please visit eversource.com, and follow us on X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. For more information on our water services, visit aquarionwater.com.
Media Contact:
Justin May, on behalf of Ørsted and Eversource
jmay@gbpr.com
860-839-1538
