Mary Miller, chief administrative officer for Edison Electric Institute, an industry association of shareholder-owned electric companies that includes NV Energy, pointed to a recent study from the Center for Energy Workforce Development. The study noted that about one-third of the roughly 200,000 energy industry jobs around the country will become vacant because of retirement.
Miller estimated it will be between 35 and 45 percent of the industry and says the movements should occur in the next five or six years.
"There's no room for error. These are people we're going to have to grow," Miller added. "There was a time in the industry where people were able to fill these positions by poaching. That's not the case anymore."