Conference offers advice to help out-of-work Calgarians transition to renewable energy jobs

A grassroots organization is hoping to help out-of-work Calgarians transition to green jobs.

More than 130 people many of whom were former oil and gas workers attended a full-day conference organized by the GoldMind Project on Wednesdayfocused on how to enter the renewable energy industry.

Oil and gas engineer Bryan Hnatiuk, who was laid off five years ago, was one of them.

"I just don't know where the opportunities are, and that's why I'm here today," he said.

Solas Energy Consulting managing director Paula McGarriglemade the jump from oil and gas to renewables two decades ago, first helping Suncor, then Shelltransition to some green projects.

Skills highly transferrable

McGarrigle said renewables are a smaller sector than oil and gas, and highly competitive. But also, for those looking to leave oil and gas, the skills are highly transferrable.

"It still has land acquisition, commercial contracts, stakeholder consultations all of those key developments are the same," she said.

The biggest difference, she said, is that the industry is leaner and has a quicker turnaround so workers often find themselves working on multiple solar or wind projects across multiple jurisdictions.

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Alison Pulvernacher, GoldMind's vice president and one of the cofounders, said the organization was started as oil and gas workers were contending with whether or not the industry would rebound after the downturna few years ago.

"Do we wait or do we move on?" she said she asked herself at the time.

She wants employers to know what skills people are leaving oil and gas with.

"They know how to do budgeting, they know how to do things on time, they know how to be part of a project," she said.

GoldMind holds events roughly every six weeks, focused on a variety of topicsfrom resum writingto transitioning to other industries like tech. A calendar can be found on the organization's website.