In partnership with the Solar Hands-On Instructional Network of Excellence (SHINE), Rappahannock Community College will begin offering a course in 2022 to provide students with limited or no previous work experience in the solar industry with the skills and training to obtain employment as utility-scale solar installation technicians.

The course, called SHINE Solar 101, is currently offered at select community colleges throughout Virginia.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics expects solar photovoltaic installation to be one of the fastest growing occupations in this decade. With the General Assembly’s passage of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, the transition to an electric grid powered increasingly by renewable energy is expected to create up to 13,000 jobs per year in Virginia’s advanced energy economy.

RCC’s partnership with SHINE offers residents of the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula the opportunity to join this dynamic and fast-growing solar indu...