Powering the Future: 11 Arkansas Technicians Complete Powers of Arkansas Controls Apprenticeship
Powers of Arkansas’s Instrumentation and Controls Technician Registered Apprenticeship Cohort 2026
Powers of Arkansas recently celebrated the graduation of its first Instrumentation and Controls Technician Registered Apprenticeship cohort, consisting of eleven Controls Associates. The 2.5-year program included 5,000 hours of on-the-job learning and over 288 hours of related technical instruction. Sponsored by Apprenticely with training funds from the Arkansas Office of Skills Development, the program was developed in partnership with the Arkansas Advanced Energy Foundation, a partner in the Apprenticeships in Clean Energy (ACE) Network. Powers developed and offers the competency-based curriculum entirely in house. This approach allowed them to tailor learning outcomes to the skills needed on the job, and invest in career growth across their team. AAEF helped Powers to set up the program, find trainings and funding. Apprenticely served as the Apprenticeship Sponsor in providing USDOL documentation support. In a recent feature by Green Workforce Connect, Beth Williams, Human Resource Manager at Powers, reflected that “leadership buy-in is important to invest in workforce development, and through the apprenticeship program, they’re able to build their workforce to be ideal controls techs, to provide the level of service customers expect.”
“The Powers of Arkansas Apprenticeship program is a great tool to help people who are just starting out in the HVAC controls field. There is a good mix of online training and also in-person instruction. The thing I like the most about the program is that the apprentice can pick their own path. There are a few different directions someone can go in the HVAC controls field. Being able to pick the course that’s best for you and your career has helped me become a better employee and coworker. It’s never too late to better yourself.”
While historically building controls may have consisted of pneumatic/steam controls and thus needed plumbing training, the industry has evolved to require more electrical and IT type skills. This apprenticeship is critical as there are few HVAC and building controls training pathways in the state, especially outside of industrial/manufacturing spaces. Skills in HVAC and building controls are necessary for energy efficiency optimization in facilities, especially in highly technical systems like hospitals.
Headquartered in North Little Rock, Ark., Powers is the largest privately held Building HVAC, Controls, and Service company in the state. With almost 300 highly trained employees, including more than 200 installation and service technicians, Powers offers a full range of Building HVAC Systems technologies.
