Energy Innovation Center Institute (EICI) had officially announced the next phase of its highly successful Infrastructure Academy i.e. the development of initial Infrastructure Academy Regional Training (IART) Facility.
According to certain reports, the construction of this groundbreaking workforce and resiliency center will likely be only the first proponent of a larger assortment covering such facilities throughout the US.
Not just that, EICI’s Infrastructure Academy is also s part of EICI’s wider workforce programming drive, which has already trained over 5,300 individuals. In fact, an estimated 86% of graduates have secured for themselves full-time jobs. The program has also dispatched upskilling, safety, and OQ (Operator Qualification) training for 1,800 incumbent workers across energy, utilities, and critical infrastructure sectors.
Anyway, more on EICI’S Infrastructure Academy would reveal how it will take up around $135 million of the total estimated investment of $2.1 billion earmarked for this effort.
Another detail worth a mention relates to the way, set to be constructed in Southwestern Pennsylvania and service the tri-state region of Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and West Virginia, this IART Facility will be the nation’s first integrated training and operational site for the future of energy, utility, critical infrastructure, microgrids, on-site power generation, AI data centers, and AI-enabled workforce training.
“This won’t be just another training center,” said Mike Huwar, President of Peoples Natural Gas. “It’s the future of how we build and protect America’s most important energy and power systems—with the workforce leading, not lagging, the technology.”
Talk about the stated initial facility on a slightly deeper level, we begin from the fact that it will feature a full classrooms, labs, lineman yards, confined space simulation, and pipeline safety labs, pole and high voltage yards, leak towns, equipment yards, 811, and rescue safety systems.
Next up, it is going to be decked with live operating Microgrid that deploys natural gas, renewables, BESS, and SMR (simulation). The facility, alongside that, will also provide training, integrated logic and curriculum development for critical onsite “always-on” power systems with blended power and fuel stacks.
Furthermore, there will be a modular AI data center which, on its part, is designed to run on a mixed fuel microgrid. It will also be the first operationally integrated onsite power system, AC/DC, and liquid cooling system testbed for rapid commercialization, curriculum development, and training.
Apart from it, stakeholders can come expecting cybersecurity, OT/IT grid integration, and AI-augmented skilled trades training.
In case that wasn’t enough, the location will also boast what would be a Resiliency Institute, which will be tasked with applying nuclear-industry-grade fault analysis to optimize resiliency in modern distributed energy systems, and that too, without relying on high-cost, brute-force full system redundancy.
Among other things, it ought to be acknowledged that, already supported by 21 employer, trade groups, and utility partners, including founding partner Peoples Natural Gas, the IART Facility is designed to serve the tri-state region of Western PA, Eastern OH and West Virginia, while simultaneously acting as a national model for critical and digital infrastructure workforce development.
We must also touch upon how this unique drive is projected to generate 7,350+ jobs, as well as infuse $944 million into the local economy.
The initiative will even cut down on duplicative spending across dozens of utilities and public-sector workforce development programs.
Founded in 2016, Energy Innovation Center Institute’s rise up the ranks stems from conceiving real-world, high-skill career training, and national-scale employer partnerships. The organization’s excellence in what it does can also be understood once you consider its employed graduates have earned $64 million in aggregate compensation till date.
“A skilled and prepared workforce is key to ensuring Americans energy and infrastructure dominance. EICI’s IART facility is the first-of-its-kind skilled trade training facility to combine utility, critical infrastructure, on-site power, AI, and nuclear fault modeling into a single, operational training environment,” said Rich DiClaudio, President and CEO of Energy Innovation Center Institute. “We’re fusing disciplines that were once siloed—because the future workforce must be cross-trained in the challenges of on-site “all-of-the-above” power stacks, resilience, cybersecurity, and AI.”
