In response to the boom in solar projects across rural Alaska in recent years, the Alaska Energy Training Group met to discuss training strategies throughout the state for solar microgrid installation, operations, and maintenance at their spring meeting.

The last few years have seen a fast acceleration in rural Alaska’s predominantly diesel-dependent microgrids integrating large-scale solar projects. With many more projects in the pipeline, there are important lessons to learn from earlier projects’ workforce training and ongoing operation & maintenance support to ensure the success of future projects. The Alaska Energy Training Group brought together contractors, instructors, and project operators on Feb. 25, 2025, to share what training techniques and content are working well in the state and what areas need more attention to safeguard solar investments.

On Feb. 25, 2025, the Alaska Energy Training Group heard from state and national experts about how to implement successful solar microgrid projects, including the solar trainings and content offered in-person and online and unaddressed training and technical needs.

Professor Chandler Kemp, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Energy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Bristol Bay Campus, kicked off the meeting by sharing about the Sustainable Energy Occupational Endorsement program and its Photovoltaics 101 (PV 101) course. This weeklong, workforce-focused course leases curriculum from Solar Energy International (SEI) and is often offered multiple times per year. To get the course up and running, UAF Bristol Bay Campus trained a cohort of experienced professionals to become instructors. They now travel the state teaching how to perform power and energy calculations, understand critical PV system components, and identify, test, and operate different PV systems.

In the fall of 2024, classes in Juneau and Bethel underwent PV 101 training and received their completion certificates from qualified instructors—one of whom was electrical administrator and Sunstone Electric co-owner Kolt Garvey. Kolt, as both an instructor and contractor, had valuable insights to share with the group about how best to set up solar installations for success. He stressed the need for project proposals to include remote monitoring capabilities and planning, training for local operators alongside equipment installation, and return trips for continuing education and ongoing maintenance needs, including warranty trainings. Kolt also emphasized the importance of melding classroom and field instruction, highlighting the strengths of an apprenticeship model for solar operators.

PV 101 students and instructors work on an outdoor solar installation lab. Photo courtesy of Jacob Ivanoff, environmental coordinator for the Native Village of Unalakleet.

Kolt teed up his own instructor and fellow solar expert Kyle Bolger, to present next. Kyle, who is from Alaska and works with contractors and training providers in the state and the Lower 48, shared tried-and-tested online training resources and content from providers like SEI, Midwest Renewable Energy Association, and others. Many of the courses he shared focused in on specialized areas or in-depth topics, like mitigating fire risk from energy storage facilities and testing PV systems’ insulation resistance. Kyle also shed light on Alaska’s solar landscape compared to the rest of U.S., pointing out that Alaska needs to adopt interconnection rules that standardize things like timelines, costs, and reporting requirements across the state to grow its energy industry.

Finally, Northwest Arctic Borough Energy Manager Ingemar Mathiasson discussed the solar projects throughout the borough over the last decade and their evolving plans and goals for the future. The borough’s Energy Steering Committee is a vital piece of the region’s energy planning and implementation work, bringing stakeholders together regularly to rehash and update plans. Ingemar also shared the overall structure of the borough’s independent power producer (IPP) model, including a full-time role within the borough to remotely monitor the status of each solar project and communicate with local operators.

As the number of solar installations in remote Alaskan communities continues to grow, so too does the need for courses and instructors to train experienced and safe local operators. By sharing tactics and ideas for developing a knowledgeable solar workforce within the state, the Alaska Energy Training Group aims to help shape responsive and impactful programs. If you want to participate in future conversations about energy training in the state, sign up for the Alaska Energy Training Group and join the next meeting on June 10 at 11 a.m. to discuss bulk fuel training programs and capacity building.

By Jenny StarrsMarch 3rd, 2025

alaska energy training groupsolar training