Canadian oil workers are interested in being retrained in skills for the geothermal energy industry
This past November, Iron & Earth, a national initiative to retrain tradespeople working in the fossil fuel industry to transition into the renewables sector, publicly introduced its plan to put words into action. Titled the Workers’ Climate Plan, the report “describes how Canada can become a leader in renewable energy, and a net exporter of renewable energy products, services and technology, by harnessing the industrial trade skills of current energy sector workers.”
Notably, many of these workers in the building trades either already have the basic skills necessary for renewables work or they have transferable skills that would enable a smooth transition.
According to the plan, “The compatibility or near compatibility of existing skills with renewables is extensive: Electricians are needed to develop and install solar panels, welders are needed to build wind turbines, drillers and drilling engineers are needed to locate and maintain geothermal wells, and so on.”