Workforce Development for U.S. Hydropower: Key Trends and Findings offers a brief assessment of current US hydropower industry workforce and educational programs. Operating and maintaining hydropower facilities requires highly qualified workers with years of experience and education in a range of trades. Jobs with the highest level of demand—skilled craft workers and professional workers—typically require the most education and specialized training.
Staffing demands will continue as this carbon-free source of energy and storage continues to grow; a need that grows more pronounced as employees begin to retire from the hydropower workforce. Approximately 26% of the hydropower workforce is age 55 and older and will reach retirement age within the next decade. The need to quickly hire large numbers of workers presents challenges in recruitment and the transfer of knowledge from older, experienced workers to new, often less-experienced staff.
“By estimating hydropower industry workforce needs, this report outlines the types of workers and educational programs needed in the short term to drive hydropower energy and storage forward long term,” said Suzanne Tegen, a report co-author from the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University.
Found in all 50 states, hydropower generates more than 7 percent of the country’s electricity and has long been the nation’s largest source of renewable energy. Hydropower—increasingly recognized for the valuable flexibility and reliability of the services it provides to the grid—is also well-positioned to enable the integration of variable renewable resources, such as wind and solar, while supporting grid reliability and resilience. For these reasons and many more, the future U.S. hydropower workforce will play an important role in the future of the U.S. energy system.
