Resources, Training, and Education
Lead: Paul Ndione, NREL paul.ndione@nrel.gov
Co-Lead: Jeremy Sment, SNL jsment@sandia.gov
The Resources, Training, and Education (RTE) topic is a dedicated effort from HelioCon to support the heliostat community as a whole. It encompasses resources, practices, and programs to ensure that newcomers to the heliostat development business have an adequate knowledge base and training to conduct R&D efforts, outsiders to the field are provided with resources and opportunities to help them join the workforce, and the workforce community is a productive, healthy, and fulfilling environment for all workers. To fulfill the identified top-ranked gaps,
- Programs and practices will be implemented to support diversity, equity, and inclusion within the heliostat workforce and to drive the industry towards energy solutions that benefit underserved communities;
- Efforts will be made to create more opportunities for heliostat research and education in universities to support a workforce pipeline;
- Informational and training resources will be created to market heliostats to the public and to support onboarding of new employees;
- A web-based resource database will be created to make RTE resources accessible to the public.