It was a big night for Northern Lights College (NLC) as the Centre for Applied Energy and Environmental Sustainability (CAEES) officially launched on November 5.
The event brought together community and industry partners, donors to the NLC Foundation, college leadership and more to celebrate.
Some of the highlighted guests included executives from HD Hyundai Electric, mayors from surrounding communities, and leaders from regional businesses.
CAEES will work with in partnership with industry and communities to develop the training and education necessary for alternative energy industries to thrive.
It will offer an expanded curriculum that encompasses both traditional trades in natural gas extraction and emerging technologies in clean energy, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, and carbon capture and storage.
This event was also a chance to celebrate donors to the NLC Foundation and thank them for their support of NLC students.
Tara Hyland-Russell, Vice President, Academics and Research for NLC, has worked on developing CAEES since September 2023, and seeing all the hard work come to fruition was incredibly rewarding.
“This is the culmination of two and a half years of work. The genesis for this project started my second week at Northern Lights College,” she said. “CAEES is both important to the college and to industry because it’s solving issues. It is addressing workforce needs, future labour market demands, and bringing the training, the innovation, and the research together to solve the problems.”
Two programs have been developed so far under the CAEES umbrella. The first is the Field Operator Specialist – Hydrocarbon Resources program, which started the whole endeavour. The second is the Environmental Site Assessment Technician certificate program, which is now part of several offerings in environmental sustainability.
“We have everything we need in northeast BC to be successful here.” – Dave Jeffers, Director of CAEES
Dave Jeffers, the Director of CAEES, is glad to have the opportunity to share what he knows about the energy industry and help guide its future in Northeast BC.
“The industry itself is changing incredibly quickly,” he said, “So the CAEES launch was very, very important to get reaction from industry and make sure that we brought the needs of that community to life so that we can provide a workforce that can contribute and actually innovate as they progress through their careers.”
The next steps for CAEES are the development of an advisory committee and a strategic plan, before launching into more curriculum development and workforce training needs.
“As our energy needs change, as our community continues to grow, those are going to be tremendous assets for Northeastern BC, both in revenue generation and career development,” said Jeffers. “We have everything we need in northeast BC to be successful here.”
To learn more about CAEES, reach out to Director Dave Jeffers at djeffers@nlc.bc.ca