The solar industry has been growing at remarkable rates since 2008 as prices for home solar panel installation and utility scale solar continue to decline rapidly. With over 190,000 veterans leaving the U.S. Military each year for many upcoming years the U.S. Department of Energy through the SunShot initiative is empowering our veterans with the job training they need to enter the solar energy workforce.

Through the Solar Ready Vets program provides job and skills training to veterans need to quickly enter the workforce. According to the Solar Foundation, solar jobs census, the U.S. solar industry employs 13,192 veterans of the armed forces, a figure which represents 9.2% of all solar workers in the nation. The solar industry currently employs over 174,000 and that number is predicted to continue to grow by 20% in both 2015 and 2016. By the end of 2015 the solar industry is expected to provide over 190,000 jobs.

Solar industry jobs are typically well paying and require skill, long hours and a drive to complete the mission of creating a low carbon energy future for America and the world. Business leaders within the solar industry are used to overcoming, what sometimes seem impossible, roadblocks in order to achieve success.

The Solar Ready vets program is provided at no cost to service members and is a six week course that provides highly technical training such as, how to properly size a solar panel system for a home or building, how to interconnect a solar system to a homes electrical grid and how to interpret and comply with local building codes.

The Florida solar industry is expected to be one of the next markets to grow rapidly as energy costs and solar costs are converging making home solar panels cost effective for more an more people without local incentives.