Michigan to Receive $5M for Smart Grid Job Training

The Detroit Free Press

WASHINGTON – Michigan will receive just more than $5 million for two programs to train workers for jobs in electric utilities, the Obama administration said earlier this month.

The administration will provide $4.4 million to the state’s Electric Power Workforce Training Strategy, which aims to train 588 workers for electric sector jobs. Northern Michigan University will get $670,000 for another program that trains about 40 entry-level electrical technicians a year.

The money comes from a $4-billion pot from the economic stimulus law last year meant to spur the building of “smart grids” and other improvements in the electric grid.

“Through these training programs, people who are out of work can get training to enter a new field,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

The grants are part of $100 million nationwide for 54 projects that the administration estimates will train about 30,000 workers.

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said the grants were “about real people training for new jobs.”