Deidre Helberg and Offshore Wind

Black business owners test offshore wind for diversity

Deidre is honored and grateful on being featured in E&E News and she would also like to Congratulate Clifford Exil of JetEx Mechanical, LLC who was also featured. Thanks to Equity + Environmental Justice Center, the Leadership team, and the Coalition Sistahs of U.S. Coalition of Black Women Businesses.
Helberg Electrical Supply's CEO, Deidre Helberg, was recently featured in an article by E&E News that highlighted her experiences and challenges as a Black woman in the electrical supply business. She expressed her hope that the offshore wind project in Long Island will allow her company to grow and enable her to train a new generation of Black entrepreneurs in the power business. Although renewable energy has had mixed success in creating jobs for people of color, offshore wind is being touted as a way to green the power sector and create jobs for marginalized communities. The Biden administration's Justice40 initiative and New York's law on clean energy and energy efficiency spending aim to direct investments to disadvantaged communities. However, there are still challenges in connecting minority- and women-owned businesses with large suppliers in the offshore wind industry. Helberg hopes that the lag in the certification process will not lead offshore wind companies to claim they can't find minority- or women-owned companies M/WBE to work with.
Many industries are happy to promote Black women in marketing material, she added. But contracts are what is really needed for those women. That would pave the way for a new, more diverse generation, ensuring that Deidre isn’t the only Black face in the crowd.