The electricity sector is undergoing an historic transformation driven by technology, policy, and the changing preferences of consumers. As part of our gridCONNEXT conference last month, we held a GridWise Alliance Members Meeting and posed the question, “What are the biggest challenges the industry faces that GridWise should address in 2022?” The first issue raised by our members was workforce—one that is aging, predominantly white and male, and potentially requiring new skill sets.
Expected growth in the sector and focus on digital technologies and clean energy will create opportunities to attract new talent, invest in the existing workforce, and bring greater diversity across all levels of the industry. Therefore, our January theme is workforce development. We will explore innovative human resources programs to attract and retain talent, how unions view industry growth potential, how workforce skills must adapt to technology and cybersecurity needs, the impacts of the pandemic and economic shut down on the grid workforce, and other topics.
