In view of the EU decarbonization policy implementation, the Greek government has recently decided the permanent retirement of lignite based thermal power stations (TPS) of West Macedonia, being in operation since the 70’s. For the last fifty years, the Public Power Corporation has undertaken the responsibility to run the quarries and the thermal power stations offering almost 15000 direct and indirect job positions. In this context and despite the significant environmental impacts in the wider area, the lignite extraction and the operation of the TPS of Ptolemaida, Amintaio, Kardia and Agios Dimitrios have been the major economic activity of the entire prefecture for the last five decades. Although the Greek government has prepared quite ambitious plans to financially support the local communities and to encourage public and private investments, local societies are quite anxious about their future. To this end, the present work not only investigates the energy transition of the West Macedonia but also analyzes the attitude of the local people towards the radical changes anticipated in the near future. Emphasis is put on examining the answers of young scientists, most of them expecting to work in the energy supply chain of the under retirement TPS. The results of this analysis are quite interesting and underline the danger of significant immigration and brain drain for the area, while the involvement in planned energy installations may also be a serious alternative solution.