News Date: Jul 29, 2010
A skilled worker shortage could stall Canada's push to develop clean energy sources, delaying construction schedules, reports Reuters. Industry players, analysts, and educators see a widening gap between the demand and supply of trained staff for the thousands of green-power projects expected to begin operations between 2011 and 2013. Ontario is most vulnerable, with some 50,000 clean-energy jobs expected to be created in the province in the next 3 years. Worsening the problem is that scores of Canadian power workers will retire soon, while a slew of specialized college programs will take several years to produce green graduates. According to Canada's Electricity Sector Council, nearly three-quarters of the industry's workers are over 40 years old, and during the next decade, 40% of all workers plan to retire. Moreover, 30% of the companies that produce electricity have no plan to manage the impending exodus. Reuters