Zoe Dhillon is a Senior Project Manager for Clean Energy Consulting
VANDERHOOF – Flexibility was one of the major reasons that Zoe Dhillon decided to leave the public sector and join Clean Energy Consulting (CEC) in 2019.
As a Senior Project Manager from her home office in Vanderhoof, Zoe works on major projects throughout northern B.C. and western Canada for CEC. CEC was founded in 2008 and provides services for a wide range of clients from the industrial sector through to municipal and First Nations governments and to private developers and technology start-ups.
Zoe is a graduate from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, where she met her husband, Dr. Davy Dhillon, a rural family doctor, and they later moved to Vanderhoof where he would start his practice. Zoe began working for the District of Vanderhoof as a Special Projects Coordinator, and helped build a community swimming pool, water tower, and various other projects for the community.
The MLTC Bioenergy Centre in Saskatchewan, a Clean Energy Consulting project
“I’m also a mother of three children who are extremely busy, and my husband is very busy, so I moved to join Clean Energy Consulting largely because of the flexibility,” Zoe recalls. “This job was able to give me flexible hours and I’m able to work from home, so that was a big draw for me, in addition to the company itself.”
“Flexibility within my work schedule has been huge. Even when I was working for the town, my hours were great, but there was zero flexibility. Working in the private sector, there is flexibility. I can do site visits and I can work at home. Not only am I a Mom, I am also a coach and involved in several boards, so the flexibility allows me to balance all of my commitments.”
As a Senior Project Manager and a Process Engineer, Zoe does some technical work in addition to managing large projects. One such project is the 100 percent First Nations owned MLTC Bioenergy Centre in Saskatchewan, where she was the project manager for the electrical engineering scope, which included the design, procurement, and construction. The MLTC Bioenergy Centre is a combined heat and power plant run exclusively on biomass, and produces 6.6 megawatts of electricity to the SaskPower Grid.
The MLTC Bioenergy Centre is a combined heat and power plant
“I was able to take that project from concept to design to construction, and that was one of my first projects with Clean Energy Consulting,” she notes.
Last year, she worked on a bio-fuel project in Prince George, where, together with her team, she designed the utility building that is currently under construction.
“Another project I’m working on will be in Fort St. James, which is a start-up of an innovative new technology,” she states. “We’re helping them develop their technology and are currently in the detailed design phase of the project.”
The 50 percent First Nations-owned company will be using under-utilized fiber to produce a value-added lumber product.
“We will support the company through to construction, with the goal of completion by the end of 2025,” she adds. “Many of our projects are with First Nations and in rural communities.”
Zoe finds her job intriguing, interesting and challenging.
“It is an excellent job,” she says. “I’ve really enjoyed working on projects like these. We have projects all over the province; I’ve worked on electrifying fish farms, solar farm start-ups, lots of diverse projects, plus delivering on large construction projects.”
“I’m on the road some, but not much, really. As a Project Manager I can facilitate from home, and I also have a few projects in Vanderhoof, and from Vanderhoof, it’s easy to do site visits for work in Prince George.”
That ability to grant flexibility has been a key to the company’s major achievements.
“There’s great work energy here, and we have a very supportive office,” she says. “I worked at home before Covid hit, as did others, and in a way, it helped the whole company transition to flexible work situations, because we were already set up for that. That’s been a big success.”
