GREEN BAY Wis. —  Dan Brouillette isn’t shy about his first job.

“I started in one of these programs as a young kid right out of high school,” he said. “One of my earliest jobs was on a pipeline down in Louisiana in the oil fields. I learned how to weld and from that my entire career was shaped.”

He now heads up the U.S. Department of Energy.

Brouillette was at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay Tuesday where he toured energy and utility education facilities and spent time talking to students and instructors.

“Trade schools in America are key to this business,” he said. “We use them not only in the utility business, not only in the oil and gas business, but as you saw in other parts of the facility: the solar installations that are occurring on the other side of this building and the geo-thermal work that’s being done here.”

The university hosted its Utility Preview Day, an opportunity for high school students to check out the college, courses and equipment. Educators say energy is a board  sector  — from electric and gas to solar — with a high demand for people.

“Right now the Midwest is booming,” said John Hippensteel, a solar instructor. “We’ve got several Wisconsin contractors, some of them are involved in some very large projects, they can’t get enough students. They specifically like NWTC students because of the design aspect. Installing, that’s a nuts and bolts type issue. Most of the students that came here want to do installation as well as system designing.”

That includes students like Jeffrey Phalen. He says solar offers the prospect of long-term job stability as more and more systems take hold around the state and nation.

“I thought that would be a good way to help move our nation forward in a lot of different aspects,” he said about enrolling in the Energy Management and Solar Technologies programs. “There’s a lot of work in the industry and I can go just about anywhere inside the industry with these degrees.”​