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23
Aug/Sept 2010 www.esb.ie/em 
ENERGY INTERNATIONAL
Eurelectric 2010
ESBI is showcased at annual convention
ESBI
ESBI SHOWCASED its international engineering and consultancy services at the Eurelectric Annual Convention and Conference in the RDS, which was hosted by ESB. The theme of the ESB stand was A vision for a sustainable future and it highlighted ESB's strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035. The stand, featuring an electric vehicle and a charge point, attracted many visitors including the Lord Mayor of Dublin Councillor Emer Costello and An Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD.
ESBI Engineers abroad
Johnny Lillis, Mechanical Engineer, ESBI O&M Solutions, tells us how his experience working for ESBI in the UK and Spain led to his current role
ESBI
HAVING JOINED ESBI in September 2007 as a graduate engineer, my first role was as a graduate Mechanical Engineer at the Corby 350MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plant in England, where I spent a year gaining hands-on plant experience. In 2008, an opportunity came to work on a 755MW CCGT power plant in Amorebieta, in the Basque region of Spain. There I spent 18 months managing a project that revolved around how best to mitigate the negative effects of increased wear and tear caused by ‘Two-Shifting’ the plant (turning it on and off almost every day) and use the findings to improve the maintenance plan.
From there, I successfully applied for the position of Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Engineer for two ESBI windfarms: Hunters Hill, a 20MW facility and Crockagarran, a 15MW facility, in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
A typical day at ‘the office’ for me is spent out and about on the windfarms. My responsibilities are quite varied and include, of course, O&M activities on-site, Health and Safety coordination and documentation, liaising with and travelling to other windfarms and reporting back to ESBI Head Office for training and meetings.
My experiences in both Corby and Amorebieta have proven invaluable in preparing me for my current role. The hands-on plant knowledge, project management experience and exposure to a range of disciplines from O&M and technical services to finance and safety, have made the transition to windfarms smoother than I could have hoped. This, together with the support of many colleagues who willingly answer my questions, has really helped me to hit the ground running.
I have now started a Masters in Renewable Energy with Loughborough University in the UK.
ESBI – part of worldwide technical expertise team Ocean Renewable Energy standards
ESBI
THE INTERNATIONAL Electro-technical Council (IEC) held a meeting in Edinburgh recently to continue the development of standards for the emerging ocean energy industry. Over 80 technical experts have been nominated worldwide to work on the standards and, of these, seven are from Ireland, three of whom are from ESBI – Joe MacEnri, John Fitzgerald and James Tedd. Both John and James, who work in the Ocean Energy group led by Colm de Burca, were recruited into ESBI in the last few years from two different European wave converter technology developers.
ESBI's Joe MacEnri, first Chairperson of National Mirror Committee
With increasing amounts of research and investment in wave and tidal renewable energy, in 2008 the IEC established a Technical Committee (TC), called TC114, to address this newly emerging area. TC114 has established six project teams currently working on developing technical standards in areas such as wave and tidal resource assessment, wave and tidal-device performance assessment and the design requirements of such devices. To-date 13 countries have become participating members and a further seven are observer members. To participate in TC114 each country must establish its own national mirror committee (NMC) through which all organisations and individuals of that country co-ordinate inputs to the standards’ development. Ireland established its NMC in 2008 and Joe MacEnri was appointed as its first Chairperson. The secretary of the NMC is Frank Mackey of the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI).
Hosted by Edinburgh University, the third annual meeting of TC114 was held on Thursday and Friday May 13 and 14. More than 50 international experts met in a series of pre-event project team meetings, with the session also being attended by the Scottish Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, Jim Mather MSP.
At session close, TC114 approved the work undertaken to-date within the individual project teams and it is now seeking first drafts of the new ocean energy standards before next year's meeting.
More about the IEC
The IEC was founded in 1906 to develop technical standards for the then emerging electricity supply industry, with Lord Kelvin being appointed its first president. The IEC carries out its work under different TCs that have been set up over the years to address the need for standardisation in newly developing areas of electrical technology. There are over 100 countries worldwide that participate in IEC and over 120 TCs have been established. About 10,000 technical experts work within these TCs developing new standards and updating existing ones. For example, the IEC has developed standards in the areas of generators, transformers, transmission lines and circuit breakers – critical elements for manufacturers and utilities in designing, specifying and purchasing this type of high voltage equipment.
Docklands go green
Sustainability, page 30
ESBI web site is launched
ESBI
THE REDESIGNED www.esbi.ie website was recently launched in support of the roll-out of the new ESBI brand identity. The website and the new brand identity are aimed at enhancing the profile and reputation of ESBI among key stakeholders – customers, partners, job-seekers and, of course, staff.
Many thanks to all involved in the project, including: Project Sponsor Billy Byrne; Project Manager Bernard Murray, Project Executives: Linda Ryan, Dervla O’Flaherty and Bevin Cody, ESBI stakeholders Avril Colfer, Pearse Corbett, Sinead Long, John Moloney, Michelle Molloy, Lesley Murphy, Marie O’Donnell, Conor O’Sullivan and Annette Ginnetty, the ESB Web team members James Kelliher, Gillian McCauliffe, Catalina Bianchi, John Forde, Gemma Cowley, Karen O’Sullivan, Marie McGuirk, Conall Mullarkey and Tady Walsh, Content Contributors Alistair Adair, Jonathan Cosgrove, Clare Duffy, Niamh Holmes, Johnny Lillis, Deirdre Newell, John O’Connor, Afra Ronayne, Cera Slevin, Lu Bai and Adelina Henderson as well as all other content contributors; External Suppliers: Tara Clarke, Zinc Design; Ceara Blaghorn and Claire O’Rourke, Candidate Manager and Alan Murphy, Photography.
