Energy

With 35-plus power plants, including more than 15 renewable energy facilities, Greater Charlotte’s energy sector is humming with diversity and ingenuity.

Generation and distribution, services and construction, and manufacturing make up the region’s industry, which include American and international giants like Duke Energy and Southern Company. More than half of energy workers are employees in services and construction, with manufacturing, like Specialty Lighting, Cleveland County’s long-standing hallmark industry.

While access to minerals is an obvious draw with technical assistance for resources management, so is the region’s experienced and trained workforce. Building on decades of workforce development, workers are conquering a new learning curve with renewable energy. Many hone skills through the NC Clean Energy Technology Center, which offers training in technology, policy and business topics to grow the state’s renewables sector.

At the University of North Carolina Charlotte, the next generation of industry leaders are immersed in devising solutions and understanding energy challenges. Students learn civil, environmental, electrical and computer engineering and collaborate with current industry professionals for hands-on experience.