The Clean Energy Frontier updated Bruce County Council on their work during a presentation on Thursday.
The purpose of the program is to amplify and highlight the economic benefits of the nuclear and clean energy industry that the region sees across Bruce, Grey, and Huron Counties.
Chad Richards, the Director of Policy & Partnerships at the Nuclear Innovation Institute says that his team was able to touch base with senior business executives in the nuclear sector and find out the challenges and opportunities that they were facing.
He says based on their findings, that the clean energy sector still requires some vision and planning, and that there is a significant competition for people to join the workforce across the supplier base.
Richards says that on a positive note, “The sector is poised to thrive in this net-zero environment and really meeting those climate change challenges we’re all seeing across the provincial and federal governments.”
He says that suppliers, in addition to needing more employees, wanted to ensure that housing was a priority for local governments for those prospective workers.
“Suppliers talked about the need for open dialogue around housing and ensuring that those municipal services are there for their employee base here in the region, and again working as a region rather than on a siloed basis.”
Richards adds that another issue that executives were concerned about was supportive industries that would open the door for the spouses of their prospective employees, which would entice workers to the region who have partners who don’t work in the energy field.
In the meantime, the group is going to continue with different networking opportunities and ensure a positive relationship between the energy sector and Indigenous communities.
The Clean Energy Frontier is a public-private partnership funded by Bruce County and Bruce Power and is hosted by the Nuclear Innovation Institute.