II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2415 

To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to establish a grant program 

for training wind technicians, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2019 

Ms. ERNST (for herself and Mr. KING) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to establish a 

grant program for training wind technicians, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wind Workforce Mod5 ernization and Training Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. WIND TECHNICIAN TRAINING GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title XI of the Energy Policy Act 

8 of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16411 et seq.) is amended by adding 

9 at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 1107. WIND TECHNICIAN TRAINING GRANT PROGRAM. 

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec3 tion, the term ‘eligible entity’ means a community college 

4 or technical school that offers a wind training program. 

5 ‘‘(b) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall estab6 lish a program under which the Secretary shall award 

7 grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities to pur8 chase large pieces of wind component equipment (such as 

9 nacelles, towers, and blades) for use in training wind tech10 nician students. 

11 ‘‘(c) FUNDING.—Of the amounts made available to 

12 the Secretary for administrative expenses to carry out 

13 other programs under the authority of the Secretary, the 

14 Secretary shall use to carry out this section $2,000,000 

15 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2024.’’. 

16 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

17 for the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–58; 

18 119 Stat. 601) is amended by inserting after the item re19 lating to section 1106 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 1107. Wind technician training grant program.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. VETERANS IN WIND ENERGY. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title XI of the Energy Policy Act 

22 of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16411 et seq.) (as amended by section 

23 2(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 1108. VETERANS IN WIND ENERGY. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 

3 program to prepare veterans for careers in the wind en4 ergy industry that shall be modeled off of the Solar Ready 

5 Vets pilot program formerly administered by the Depart6 ment of Energy and the Department of Defense. 

7 ‘‘(b) FUNDING.—Of the amounts made available to 

8 the Secretary for administrative expenses to carry out 

9 other programs under the authority of the Secretary, the 

10 Secretary shall use to carry out this section $2,000,000 

11 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2024.’’. 

12 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

13 for the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–58; 

14 119 Stat. 601) (as amended by section 2(b)) is amended 

15 by inserting after the item relating to section 1107 the 

16 following: 

‘‘Sec. 1108. Veterans in wind energy.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. STUDY AND REPORT ON WIND TECHNICIAN WORK18 FORCE. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy (referred 

20 to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall convene a task 

21 force comprised of 1 or more representatives of each of 

22 the stakeholders described in subsection (b) that shall— 

23 (1) conduct a study to assess the needs of wind 

24 technicians in the workforce; 

25 (2) create a comprehensive list that— 


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1 (A) lists each type of wind technician posi2 tion available in the United States; and 

3 (B) describes the skill sets required for 

4 each type of position listed under subparagraph 

5 (A); and 

6 (3) not later than 1 year after the date of en7 actment of this Act, make publicly available and 

8 submit to Congress a report that— 

9 (A) describes the results of that study; 

10 (B) includes the comprehensive list de11 scribed in paragraph (2); and 

12 (C) provides recommendations— 

13 (i) for creating a credentialing pro14 gram that may be administered by commu15 nity colleges, technical schools, and other 

16 training institutions; and 

17 (ii) that reflect best practices for wind 

18 technician training programs, as identified 

19 by representatives of the wind industry. 

20 (b) STAKEHOLDERS DESCRIBED.—The stakeholders 

21 referred to in subsection (a) are— 

22 (1) the Department of Defense; 

23 (2) the Department of Education; 

24 (3) the Department of Energy; 

25 (4) the Department of Labor; 


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1 (5) the Department of Veterans Affairs; 

2 (6) technical schools and community colleges 

3 that have wind technician training programs; and 

4 (7) the wind industry. 

5 (c) FUNDING.—Of the amounts made available to the 

6 Secretary for administrative expenses to carry out other 

7 programs under the authority of the Secretary, the Sec8 retary shall use to carry out this section $500,000. 

Æ 


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