Educational Partnerships
The importance of furthering education about alternative energy uses is vital to the future of our communities. ARC:Hydrogen collaborates with school districts and the K-12 curriculum to provide teaching plans and modules. Distance learning is facilitated through partnership with Aiken Technical College (ATC) classrooms.
ATC has provided project management and built a Hydrogen Energy Technology (HET) Program in credit programs at the college. The HET program developed with readySC has been incorporated in courses for Industrial Maintenance (IM), Electrical Engineering Technology (EET), HVAC, and the automotive program at ATC. In the first semester of program courses, over 115 students were taught the fundamentals of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies using in-class materials developed by readySC and an SME from ATC.
The in-class instruction of students is important, but hands-on training on industrial equipment will be necessary for fully trained hydrogen technicians. ATC has worked with ARC:Hydrogen and SRNL to design and build a regenerative fuel cell system to be housed in the ED&T laboratory. The regenerative fuel cell system will be used in technician training programs.
readySC has partnered with Aiken Technical College (ATC) and ARC:Hydrogen to create and operate a program to identify, train, and certify hydrogen technicians to install and operate hydrogen equipment, manufacture hydrogen systems, and work in a hydrogen research laboratory. The purpose of this program is to support the development of an economic development business cluster in Hydrogen Energy Technologies and anchor this emerging technology and associated jobs in South Carolina.