Laney College Helps Power the Bay Area’s Clean Energy Future

The initiative, funded by a $160,000 Strong Workforce grant, is focused on developing flexible, hands-on training materials that community colleges can use to teach the fundamentals of battery design, safety, testing, and recycling. The timing couldn’t be better: battery technology is at the heart of nearly every clean-energy innovation—from electric vehicles to grid-scale energy storage—and the Bay Area has become a national hub for this work.

Through the partnership, Laney and other Bay Area colleges will work closely with ECF—recently awarded $28 million from the California Energy Commission to build a new pilot battery manufacturing facility in the East Bay—as well as the Volta Foundation, a global network of battery companies and professionals.

What the Project Will Do

• Develop modular battery curriculum that can be integrated into existing programs like electronics, industrial maintenance, and engineering technology, helping train electronic technicians, industrial maintenance technicians, engineering technicians, and others for the growing clean-energy workforce.
• Connect industry experts and college faculty to design training that reflects real-world needs.
• Make materials widely available to K-12 schools, workforce boards, and community organizations.
• Lay the groundwork for a battery technician apprenticeship program to help students transition directly into jobs.

As the fiscal agent for the project, Laney College will help coordinate efforts among regional partners including Chabot College, City College of San Francisco, De Anza College, Diablo Valley College, Evergreen Valley College, Foothill College, Las Positas College, Los Medanos College, Napa Valley College, and Ohlone College.

By embedding battery curriculum into existing pathways, the project ensures the work will last—strengthening clean-energy education across the Bay Area for years to come.