After LG Energy Solution announced a $1.7 billion expansion in Holland earlier this week, Grand Rapids Community College Thursday announced a “battery boot camp” for the 1,200 new jobs the expansion will create.
Electric vehicle battery maker LG Energy Solution announced the massive expansion on Tuesday in what Governor Gretchen Whitmer called a huge ‘win’ for Michigan, as the company had contemplated the facilities in Poland or China before settling on Holland.
Now, the company needs qualified workers, 1,200 in fact, with knowledge of energy storage manufacturing.
To fill that void, Grand Rapids Community College Thursday announced a battery boot camp for its students, an intense training program with a degree or certificate in battery manufacturing and power storage.
Julie Parks, the executive director of workforce training at Grand Rapids Community College.
“It changes in how we operate here, it lets us be one of the leaders in the nation, if not the world, in what is happening in energy storage,” Parks said. “If we conquer energy storage, thinking about what else we can do…so, it is very exciting to have Michigan be on the leading edge of that.”
The program begins next spring. Officials say the average salary at LG Energy will be around $65.000 per year.
