More Than 13,000 Express Interest in Joining DOE’s Clean Energy Corps

WASHINGTON — Barely five months after it was launched, more than 13,000 people have applied to become members of the Department of Energy’s new Clean Energy Corps team.

The creation of the corps is a byproduct of the bipartisan infrastructure law, which invested $62 million in the department to expand access to energy efficiency and clean energy, to lower energy costs for Americans, and to continue the development of new technologies through clean-energy research, development, demonstrations and deployment.

“We are launching the clean energy corps to get it all done,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a video statement announcing the launch of the program in January.

“We want people from every pocket of America and every community. We want people who are passionate, who are driven, who are ready to work hard on the mission of a lifetime,” she said. “We need project grants and portfolio managers to help us get these investments out the door and deploy, deploy, deploy clean energy.

“We need scientists, analysts, engineers, nuclear, mechanical, electrical and civil to help us design and evaluate the electric vehicle charging networks and the nuclear reactors of the future,” Granholm continued. “We need cybersecurity professionals. We need people managers, we need HR professionals, we need mission support teams to keep everything running; in other words, we need you on our team.”

In a subsequent video discussion with the DOE’s Chief Human Capital Officer Erin Moore and then-Chief of Staff Tarak Shah, Granholm said her passion for clean energy started when she was governor of Michigan.

“At that point the auto industry was on the verge of collapse, and personally, I looked into the eyes of too many workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and I’m never going to forget their pain.

“So we decided to diversify in Michigan and embrace car 2.0, which is the electric vehicle, and that really helped our state to rebound,” she said. “We started creating jobs again, and building on the existing supply chain and matching the same skills that auto workers already had. 

“Based on that experience, I accepted this role as energy secretary on the condition that we do everything in our power to create new opportunities for every worker,” Granholm said, adding, “This is the moment to reap the economic and environmental benefits of clean energy nationwide, just like we did in Michigan. 

“I always refer to the Department of Energy as America’s solutions department,” she said.
“I think DOE is in a great position to get this done.”

The Clean Energy Corps is currently comprised of staff from more than a dozen DOE offices — current employees and about 1,000 new hires, a department spokesman told The Well News on Thursday.

And it’s still looking for candidates in many different fields, from physical science and engineering to cybersecurity and grants management.

Interested individuals can apply here.

Granholm said this week that the department has taken several weeks to implement the new law. 

“We’ve opened a new joint office with, for example, the Department of Transportation on electric vehicle charging, and we’ve created a whole new office of clean energy demonstrations, which is going to help commercialize technologies like clean hydrogen and carbon capture and create jobs.

“And earlier this month, we launched the Building a Better Grid Initiative, which is intended to help develop nationally significant transmission projects and get our grid ready for 100%, clean energy, and all the while we’re going to be partnering with states and tribes and communities focusing on rural and disadvantaged and economically hard hit communities. 

“It’s a heck of a mission, and a heck of a job. And we need all hands on deck. And that’s why the Clean Energy Corp is going to hire more than 1000 new employees,” she said.

The following is a more complete, though not exhaustive, list of career fields the Clean Energy Corps is seeking:

Business Administration

Communications

Engineering

Finance/Accounting

Grants/Contract Management

Human Resources

Information Technology/Cybersecurity

Legal

Legislative Affairs

Physical Science

Program and Portfolio Management

Project Management

Public Policy

Safety and Occupational Health

 More information is available at https://www.energy.gov/CleanEnergyCorps.

Dan can be reached at dan@thewellnews.com and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue.