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ENERGY INTERNATIONAL
August/September 2012 www.esb.ie/em
Greek delegation visits ESBI
ESBEI WINS IITD AWARD
ESBI
CONGRATULATIONS to the ESBEI Learning and Development team who won an Outstanding Achievement Award in the Institute of Training & Development (IITD) National Training Awards 2012. These awards recognise companies that excel in providing training and development to staff and demonstrate how it can add value to organisations.
The entry was prepared and submitted by the Learning and Development team and was based on ESBEI’s Leadership Programme, which ran during 2010/2011.
ESBI HR Manager, Orla Maher said, “We place a very strong emphasis on staff training and development, both to support the professional development of our staff and to achieve our business goals. As a professional services organisation, we are committed to developing and nurturing the talent, knowledge and skills we need to offer world class consultancy services to our clients in the energy sector. This award recognises both our commitment and our associated investment in making this happen”.
Sinead Marron, President of the Irish Institute of Training & Development said, “Awards like the IITD National Training Awards are just the antidote people need to both counteract the current negativity out there and also to remind us that a lot of companies are actively investing in training and development and reaping the rewards of high performance.”
Tanzanian primary school gets electricity supply after 43 years
ESBI
On June 13th 2012, Hogoro Primary School in the village of Hogoro, Kongwa District, Tanzania, received electricity for the first time in its 43 year existence, enabling its 798 students to use computers, TV and radio.
The electrification of the school is the result of a major energy project in Tanzania funded by the US Government through the Millennium Challenge Account – Tanzania (MCA-T). ESB International is the consultant engineer and EPC construction supervisor on the project, which will significantly improve Tanzania’s energy infrastructure and bring a reliable electricity supply to thousands of homes and businesses for the first time.
The MCA-T energy project involves the reinforcement of grid substations across Tanzania, a new 132kV interconnector between mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar Island and distribution networks rehabilitation and extension. Pike Tanzania, LLC, one of the contractors selected to carry out the distribution networks projects, provided funding to Hogoro Primary School to pay for the wiring and associated equipment necessary to energise the school.
Turning the lights on in Hogoro School is significant in that it demonstrates the very real impact that the MCA-T energy project is having on the lives of individuals living in Tanzania. As well as enabling a better education for the children attending the school, it also allows the school to provide night classes to the community for the first time.
ESB participates in major CCS research
ESBI
LAST MONTH, WE were proud to announce that Sinéad Treanor had been selected to participate in a training programme on carbon capture and storage. Sinéad was one of only four international attendees chosen from a competitive pool of 128 applicants.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a suite of technologies which are essential to decarbonise the power generation sector and to help mitigate the effects of global warming. These technologies are vital to reduce global Carbon Dioxide emissions if we are to continue to utilise fossil fuels to meet the growing energy demand worldwide. ESB is building capability in CCS technologies and the team are currently evaluating whether they should form part of ESB’s portfolio in the long-term.
The objective of the Research Experience in Carbon Sequestration (RECS) programme is to prepare a worldclass workforce, nurture career networks and facilitate research opportunities and is the premier US education and field research workshop on carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS). The programme is aimed at graduates and early career professionals and hosted individuals from universities, companies, governmental and non-governmental organisations. The RECS faculty comprises world class experts currently working in the field of CCUS. We were afforded the opportunity to discuss with them, debate and question the concepts being presented.
Sinéad had the opportunity to experience first hand the perspective of CCS in the U.S., or CCUS as they now term it in the states. Sinéad explains: “The focus in the U.S. is not merely on permanent storage of carbon dioxide (CO2), more emphasis is being put on the utilisation of CO2. In most of the cases, CO2 is used for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). CO2 is used to recover additional oil from producing fields than otherwise would be obtained. By placing a value on CO2 for EOR, CCUS technologies will be deployed more quickly, helping to demonstrate technology and build infrastructure which can be used to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuelled power generation plant.”
The programme ran for ten days in early-June and was located at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Alabama was chosen as the host location as there are many CCS initiatives underway there which the group were given opportunities to visit. For many of the participants it was the first time they had visited a power plant, a CCS pilot facility or a geology laboratory. Together with the field, laboratory and site visits, classroom lectures were also organised on the topics of capture, transport and storage of CO2. The broader aspects of CCUS like policy, regulation and communications were also discussed.
