Alberta’s laid-off oil workers can find new lives in the green-tech sector, say panellists at an upcoming solar conference.
The 2022 Solar Alberta Solar Show starts Feb. 7 online in Alberta. The conference offers many free and paid talks on renewable energy and net-zero homes.
Solar Alberta president Darryl Kaminski will co-host a free talk on finding new jobs in the renewable energy sector during the conference.
“Alberta has been installing more renewable energy than any other part of Canada,” he said, and there’s significant demand for everything from office workers to wind turbine technicians as a result. Oil and coal jobs, meanwhile, are drying up, leaving a large cadre of skilled workers in search of new employment.
Oil jobs can involve long stretches of dangerous field work followed by unemployment when the oil price drops, said panellist Luisa Da Silva of Iron & Earth, a non-profit that seeks to help oil workers get into renewable energy. Renewable energy is booming in Alberta and offers steady local work for comparable pay.
“If you’re looking for a more stable lifestyle, something that is less boom and bust, something that keeps you closer to family, a less dangerous job, then renewables are the way to go,” said Da Silva, who used to work in the fossil-fuel sector herself.
The biggest hurdle to making the jump from oil and gas is mental, Da Silva said. Workers see oil and gas as part of their identity and fear they won’t be valued in the renewable economy.
Da Silva said Iron & Earth helps oil and gas workers see that they are still needed as the energy sector moves away from fossil fuels. They have created a climate career portal to show how oil industry skills can transfer to renewables (if you can weld a pipeline, you can weld a wind turbine, for example), and started a renewable skills initiative to give workers hands-on experience with solar installation.
The talk starts at 7 p.m. on Feb. 10. Visit solaralberta.ca/events/the-solar-show for details.
