The Mid-West Energy Research Consortium is making a $1.67 million investment in new training and development equipment at its center on Milwaukee’s northwest side.
The equipment will be used by M-WERC’s Extreme Power Conversion development programs to train line workers, test technicians and power engineers to meet the region’s workforce needs in the energy, power and controls sectors.
M-WERC was awarded $835,000 by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration for the equipment, and plans to raise the remaining funds from local and state partners, spokesman Josh Morby said.
All equipment will be housed in M-WERC’s Energy Innovation Development and Training Center, at 4210 N. 27th St.
The investment is expected to create 250 jobs in total, according to the EDA.
M-WERC members have already committed to hire the first 100 graduates of the program, said Dan Ebert, executive director.
“We’re excited about our ability to meet the critical workforce needs of our members as Milwaukee’s aging workforce begins to retire,” Ebert said.
The EDA said the new labor pool trained through the project will help attract new companies to the more than 80 acres of “shovel-ready sites” in the 30th Street Industrial Corridor’s Century City Business Park.
M-WERC is collaborating with academic partners UW-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Area Technical College and the Innovative Educational Solutions Institute, along with corporate partners Eaton, Astronautics, Faith Technologies and Leonardo DRS, to train workers.
“On behalf of our many partners and supports, I’d like to express our excitement about what this opportunity means for M-WERC, Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin,” said Alan Perlstein, chief executive of M-WERC. “We are grateful to the EDA and the US Department of Commerce in enabling procurement of this state-of-the-art development, and training hardware.”
