Help wanted: More female electricians to help America hit its climate goals

• The US needs more electricians to install renewable energy and electric vehicle chargers.
• The workforce could shrink 14% by 2030, with demand jumping by as much as 25%, one forecast found.
• The industry is mostly white and male. Attracting more women and people of color could help.

The US needs more electricians like Tonya Hicks, and fast.

When Hicks joined her local electrical union nearly 30 years ago in Mississippi, she immediately stood out.

Hicks became the first Black woman in the local International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to complete an apprenticeship and become a journeyman. Getting those qualifications required her to travel from state to state to rack up enough work hours.

"Many contractors refused to work with me because I was a woman," Hicks told Insider. "It was very difficult, but I was determined."

Hicks has spent her career trying to make the industry more inclusive for women of color. She founded her own contracting firm, Power Solutions in Atlanta, more than two decades ago and employs 11 electricians who focus on installing electric-vehicle chargers, solar panels, and wind turbines, as well as electrifying homes.

Attracting more women and people of color into the trades is key to the US green-energy transition, especially at a time when there aren't enough electricians for all the projects in the pipeline. Only 2% of electricians are women, federal data shows, and nearly 80% are white. Meanwhile, electricians are retiring at a faster rate than the number entering the field.

Qmerit, a platform that connects homeowners with installers for EV chargers, rooftop solar, and battery storage, forecast that the electrician workforce could shrink 14% by 2030, with demand jumping by as much as 25%. That growth is higher than what the Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting, about 6%. Qmerit found that might be an underestimate given the unprecedented transition underway.

The Inflation Reduction Act is pouring nearly $400 billion over the next decade into renewable energy, electric home appliances such as heat pumps and induction stoves, and EVs. The Biden administration also set aside funding for states and labor and industry groups to train residential energy efficiency and electrical contractors.

"Part of this is cultural," Tom Bowen, the president of Qmerit, told Insider. "Historically, trades were viewed as a male profession, but we're not going to solve the shortage by focusing on 18- to 24-year-old men. We really need to expand that base."

Bowen said Qmerit was partnering with high schools, trade schools, and community colleges to educate people about the earning potential in the trades — as opposed to a four-year degree. In California, a master electrician can make as much as an attorney without $200,000 worth of loan debt, Bowen said.

The median annual wage is about $65,000, but that reflects various qualifications across the entire country.

Hicks said part of the problem was the persistence of racism and sexism, particularly in the construction sector, so Black electricians and women of color can struggle to find work.

"We have kids graduating from trade school or coming through apprenticeship programs," Hicks said. "They are qualified, but they're not being hired. So I'm thinking about helping more people start their own company."