Tapping Into Renewables: TAP Should Include Clean Energy Jobs
A program that will pay remote workers to relocate to West Virginia was announced last month, prompting a flurry of enticed teleworkers to apply. Dubbed Ascend WV, the program pays out $12,000 over the course of two years to anyone who decides to start calling West Virginia home. Participants in the program, who must be employed by a company located outside of West Virginia, will also enjoy a year's worth of free outdoor recreational activities.
Recently released census data positions West Virginia among the states that have lost the largest percentages of population over the course of the past decade; the state will lose a congressional seat after redistricting. Providing incentives for people to move to West Virginia is one mechanism for maintaining the strength of local economies.
In regions impacted by the loss of certain industries here in Virginia, a similar program aims to incentivize workers to relocate and help local economies undergo revitalization. The Talent Attraction Program helps pay up to $12,000 toward student loans each year for two years for recent graduates who move to counties in either Virginia’s Southside or Southwest regions and take a job in certain key industries. TAP is open to those looking to teach either STEM or special education in public schools, speech language pathologists, physical or occupational therapists, industrial or electrical engineers, or information security, network, or computer systems analysts.
Participants are required to live in one of the regions for two years and to become civically engaged in their community; if these requirements are fulfilled, participants can take part in the program for an additional two years, with the potential to have up to $48,000 in student debt paid off. TAP is administered by the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission, which promotes the economic growth and development of communities that were formerly dependent on the tobacco industry.
Like Ascend WV, TAP is an effective tool in bringing relevant talent to where it’s needed. However, broadening the scope of the program could serve to make Virginia’s Southside and Southwest regions even stronger. Virginia should expand TAP to include opportunities for those seeking clean energy jobs. Doing so would bolster the clean energy industry, thus boosting local economies during the transition from fossil fuels to renewables.
Beyond contributing to the economic revitalization of communities, clean energy jobs are also good for workers. A 2020 report found that those who work with renewable energy, energy efficiency, and grid modernization earn higher median wages than the national median wage. Additionally, clean energy jobs are likely to come with better healthcare and retirement benefits than other jobs in the private sector.
These jobs not only contribute to a decrease in carbon emissions, bringing Virginia closer to its clean energy goals specified in 2020’s Clean Economy Act, but also have the potential to bring higher wages and better benefits to regions of Virginia looking to recover from the loss of the coal and tobacco industries.
Both the Southside and Southwest regions are well-suited for clean energy success. A report released by the Brookings Institute earlier this year looking into the ways clean energy jobs can revitalize communities formerly dependent on the fossil fuel industry identified Southwest Virginia as an area with strong potential for renewable energy generation. Both solar and wind energy generation could take off in the region, and the report noted that this could make the area more economically competitive while helping current and future workers.
Virginia’s Southside is also primed to grow with the adoption of clean energy generation. As a 2020 Virginia Mercury story detailed, the geographic conditions that enabled the Southside to become a tobacco boomtown give the region a similar chance for success with renewable energy. The same intense sunshine and sprawling land that helped to cultivate what was considered the best tobacco in the country can now be utilized to power a revitalization of the region through the development of solar energy generation.
The potential for clean energy generation in the area served by TAP is enormous. In order to harness this potential, TAP should expand the occupations eligible for participation in the program to include clean energy jobs. By incentivizing recent college graduates with bright minds and a passion for their community to take jobs in TAP counties, Virginia can at once tap into the strong potential for renewable energy in the Southside and Southwest regions, contribute to a reduction in carbon emissions, and bring high paying jobs with great benefits to the regions they’re needed most.