PERSPECTIVE
WORLD-GENERATION MAY/JUNE 2015 V.27 #2
26
decisions that would be based primarily on immediate need vs.
planned growth, and the unknown impact of the then-new
healthcare initiative.
While I, and others, stand by our predictions of a huge vacuum
caused by retiring operations workers, since that time my company
has actually received more recruiting assignments based on grow-
ing our clients’ non-technical staff. However, these requests have
been more from vendors supporting the power industry rather than
from those generating and/or distributing power. We have been
working to support our clients’ efforts to grow market share (mar-
keting and sales talent), improve operations (HSE and operational
managers), and equipment betterment (construction managers,
project managers, commissioning technicians). While to a certain
degree the industry and its workers have delayed its need for
replacement staff, there has not been a long-term solution found for
the issue.
Our success has exceeded both expectations and dreams, but
this success has been limited to identifying and moving existing
industry talent from within the industry to client companies. As I
continue to believe that the power industry will experience a severe
loss of talent, my focus and hope is to have much more impact in
helping to train and draw new qualified talent to the power indus-
try. From designers to operators, welders to project managers,
commissioning engineers to safety experts we are and will continue
to lose (at an accelerating pace) the foundation of experience as
retirements occur.
Unfortunately, as an industry, we just have not done enough to
counter these losses. SCR continues to try to do our part by work-
ing with local technical schools, supporting diversity worker
recruitment, writing and presenting articles and speeches on the
benefits of a career in the power industry, and working toward
developing new talent. We intend to continue to expand this effort
and ask that the industry at-large also make a concerted effort to
help this process along. I believe three areas of focus can have a
big positive impact:
1) Investing in using college level interns
2) Hiring and converting related-industry workers
(petrochemical, pulp & paper, refinery, LNG) to our industry
3) Creating environments where well-tenured workers mentor
new workers
These programs come with associated costs, but in the long
run they are imperative to the ongoing health of our industry.
Speaking of mentoring, it’s interesting to note that those who
seem most concerned about the issue are in fact those nearing
retirement. They recognize that the incoming workforce, while well
educated, is operating with a limited view of function-cause-result of
the industry processes. Although these lessons will eventually be
learned, the reality is that these “old dogs” could train the “pups”
so much more quickly with a focused effort of passing the knowl-
edge on through person-to-person interaction.
An environment conducive to this type of knowledge-share can
be created through short weekly coffee meetings, break-out
periods, or any other time where junior staff can simply ask the
more tenured people to “tell us something important that you’ve
learned during your career that can’t be learned from a book.”
SCR and I also ask that you join us in selecting an industry-
focused scholarship program to support which will help spread the
word about available power industry careers. As we are happy to
help you identify the people who work in the areas served by
World-Generation
, we are also happy to help you identify worthy
sponsorships to invest in, and events to attend which promote the
well-being of our industry. By joining us in this initiative, you will be
helping us all, as together, we ensure that the next generation of
industry talent is established.
Jerry Robinson, Class of 2011
Strategic Contract Resources, LLC
5655 Lake Acworth Drive, Ste 350
Acworth, Georgia 30101
678.784.6112
BACK ON CAMPUS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25
the time and expense of addressing problems and reduce costly
system downtime.
PVIQ also provides project developers with detailed informa-
tion on the relative performance of systems that use different hard-
ware types, that are installed under different climatic conditions
and that are installed by different businesses. This creates a power-
ful feedback loop that drives best practices in system design and
installation, further decreasing the cost of solar PV by improving
factors such as site selection, hardware vendor choice, warranty
and insurance product structuring and financing optimizing. These
insights allow solar installers to price their services more competi-
tively and increase their addressable markets.
While solar PV is growing rapidly, it still comprises only a tiny
percent of the U.S. energy supply. In order for solar PV to play a
significant role in the generation of electricity, the industry will
need increased access to real-time intelligence to optimize produc-
tion at the point of use, save on costs and improve O&M workflow.
This can only come from sophisticated fleet management and data
analytics software that draws on a wide range of available data to
provide asset managers with the insight they need to get the most
out of their solar PV assets.
ANALYTICS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22
