The local governments of Northern Virginia are working aggressively to transition to a clean energy economy, with Arlington and Fairfax counties having committed to community-wide carbon neutrality by 2050. Region-wide initiatives, such as SolSmart and Solarize NOVA, have expanded the opportunities for solar deployment, and as a result, 1,410 Virginia households have made the switch to solar, generating more than 12.7 MW of solar capacity since 2014. In 2022, ICMA’s SolSmart program awarded the Northern Virginia region gold status in recognition of their leadership in implementing solar policies and programs that are considered best practices and models for other communities.

However, with the deployment of new technology comes new challenges. The application, maintenance, and operation of sustainable energy and related infrastructure is critical to enabling the local governments of Northern Virginia to meet their climate and sustainability goals. Installing, running, and maintaining solar photovoltaic systems, transmission lines, data centers, micro-grids, and electric vehicles relies on the adequate supply and retention of a trained workforce and the development of paid apprenticeships that ensure a pipeline of skilled workers are ready to build and service the new infrastructure.

Moreover, there is a significant opportunity to diversify the clean energy workforce. According to the Brookings Institute’s 2019 report, “Advancing Inclusion through Clean Energy Jobs,” fewer than 20% of workers in clean energy production and energy efficiency sectors are women, while Black workers fill less than 10% of these sector’s jobs. This at a time when, according to the “National Solar Jobs Census” conducted in 2023, solar energy jobs grew by over 27% in the Commonwealth of Virginia between 2018 and 2023.

Northern Virginia’s high-tech–focused economy, research-intense academic landscape, high-performing primary school systems, and large college-educated population have often marginalized appreciation for career technical education (CTE) and training. To better understand the potential for CTE and learn from a program that has decades of success, Northern Virginia leaders sought the opportunity to learn through global exchange.

Northern Virginia Looks to the German “Dual System”

As Northern Virginia sought out successful models, they were particularly interested in the German “dual system.” Since the Middle Ages, Germany has developed and refined a system of apprenticeships that today is considered the global benchmark for workforce training. The German dual system is a consensus-driven process involving coordination among labor unions, businesses, schools, and governmental regulators in the co-development of standards for curricula, wages, credentials, safety, and testing. 

The dual system fuses on-the-job paid apprenticeships (about 70% of the work week) with the balance spent at school (about 30% of the work week). Apprenticeships in Germany usually start at the age of 16. Employers cover approximately 75% of the costs of the three-year apprenticeships. Standardized exams and the monitoring of training for the professions are overseen by the guilds or chambers of commerce. Youth in Germany have the opportunity to learn a paid skilled trade without a college diploma. However, the career pathway pursued by students within the dual system has very often led to the pursuit and attainment of a college education.

Germany has managed to successfully converge sustainable development with career technical education and, in the process, elevate the profile of the trades. For decades, Germany has been recognized as a global pioneer in the sustainable technology sector, especially renewable energy. Much of this can be attributed to its unique education system that has created a highly trained workforce capable of producing, operating and servicing its grid, solar photovoltaic systems, wind turbines, district energy systems and energy efficient building programs. Germany’s dual system has seamlessly fused together theoretical education and practical experience through apprenticeships for over 1.3 million students in over 334 occupations. The results are exceptional. German youth unemployment is regularly under 10% (currently it’s at 5.75%), and greenhouse emissions in Germany are falling due to the success of the country’s ambitious multi-sector energy policies.

Global Connections and Learning Exchange

The relationships between Northern Virginia and Germany run deep and create exceptional opportunities for learning and the exchange of ideas. Germany is the second largest investor in the Northern Virginia region, which has the world’s forty-eighth largest economy with over $276 billion of activity. A 2023 analysis of foreign direct investment in Northern Virginia pointed out that approximately 101 German firms invest over $800 million in the Northern Virginia region. The investment created roughly 6,000 jobs, mostly in the science and technology sectors, and with wages often 15% higher than their U.S. counterparts in equivalent sectors.

Germany is the largest investor in the U.S. energy sector, as evidenced in Siemens Gamesa supplying wind turbines for Dominion Energy’s $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW). Rehau, a German-based developer of geothermal energy systems with North America headquarters in Loudoun County, has developed ground-loop heat exchange systems for Alexandria City Public Schools. The presence of these and other German-based firms in Northern Virginia involved with sustainable energy and technologies, such as VW, SAP, and Airbus, serve as potential portals for the suitable adoption of the dual system, especially through internships and work-shadow types of activities.

There are more reasons to be optimistic for Northern Virginia’s adoption of apprenticeships in the sustainable energy technology sector. In 2023, the United States departments of Commerce, Education, and Labor co-launched the Select Talent USA program, a federal program connecting foreign investment in the United States to the creation of apprenticeships and workforce development. The first pilot projects of Select Talent USA will focus on connecting foreign investors from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria with resources and experts to establish quality training and education programs in the United States.

In light of these exceptional assets, in November 2023, a seven-member team of CTE educators and teachers from Arlington County and Alexandria City schools, accompanied by staff from Dominion Energy and the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, traveled to the Stuttgart and Hamburg regions. They met with representatives from renewable energy businesses, guilds, unions, chambers, and schools to study the application of Germany’s dual system to Northern Virginia.

Subsequent to their return, the Northern Virginia CTE educators observed multiple potential lessons about the dual system that applied directly to workforce training in NOVA. These include opportunities to:

• Inform curricula for auto-technicians studying electric vehicle technology about the integration of diagnostics to instill higher-order thinking skills.

• Inform the updating of the automotive teachers’ training skills.

• Inform the CTE introductory skills programs within specific trades.

• Inspire the creation of workforce fairs in middle schools and high schools, especially in the sustainable technology and energy sectors. This is very relevant for Northern Virginia where formal agreements between school districts and German-based firms such as VW, Mercedes Benz, Lidl, and Airbus can lead to short-term and long-term apprenticeships for CTE and STEM students.

• Inform training and create apprenticeship opportunities within programs such as the Virginia Energy Workforce Consortium (VEWC).

• Inform the safety training programs of utilities such as Washington Gas and Dominion Energy.

Following her return from Germany, director of CTE and workforce development for Alexandria City Public Schools, Dr. Tricia S. Jacobs, commented, “Alexandria City Public Schools is perfectly placed to learn from and apply Germany’s dual system to Alexandria’s apprenticeships and CTE programs. The city of Alexandria has the ideal constellation of demographic, pedagogical, and commercial activities to create apprenticeships informed by lessons from Germany.”

More Win-Win Situations—Diversifying Global Student Exchanges

Creating apprenticeships and informing CTE in the sustainable energy sector by applying practices from Germany also has the potential to diversify youth exchanges. Northern Virginia is among the most demographically diverse and globally connected regions of the United States. Northern Virginia’s foreign-born population is 27.7%, the region’s minority population is 50.9%, and 35.6% of all Northern Virginians speak a language other than English at home. But according to the Institute for International Education, K-12 study abroad opportunities tend to be accessible only to small numbers of students with adequate private financial resources. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that fewer than 10% of students who study abroad are Black or Hispanic. The model under development in Northern Virginia gives students from under-represented communities the chance to take part in international exchanges that are not only culturally enriching, but through purposeful, outcome-oriented contexts.

Conclusion

Northern Virginia is redefining the notion of “think globally, act locally.” This is embodied in the creation of apprenticeships and study of workforce training lessons in sustainable energy from Germany through the purposeful bundling of educational, commercial climate policy initiatives. The end product stands to be a more robust form of CTE and the inclusion of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in the sustainable technology and cross-national education sectors. As workforce development trends change, this provides a shining example for community-business partnerships around the world.

DR. DALE MEDEARIS is senior regional planner for Northern Virginia Regional Commission.
DR. TRICIA S. JACOBS is director of CTE and workforce development for Alexandria City Public Schools.
PATRICK EARLE is a sustainable technology education teacher for Alexandria City Public Schools.
KRIS MARTINI is director of career technical education for Arlington Public Schools.
ARRAN RICHARDS is an auto-technology teacher for Arlington Public Schools.
TANJA MAYER-HARDING is coordinator for humanities and world languages instructional specialists for Alexandria City Public Schools.
GEOVANNI CASTANO is energy technology advisor for Dominion Energy.

Contact the ICMA clean energy team at energy-ready.org for ideas and practical application of clean energy in your community.