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INNOVATION
October/November 2012 www.esb.ie/em
Genco staff at Kulim Power Plant celebrate 10 years without a staff LTI
Bill Quilliam retires
ESB ecars attends Local Expo Glasnevin
ESB ECARS recently sponsored and attended Local Expo Glasnevin, which took place in Na Fianna GAA Grounds on Saturday August 18th.
The goal of Local Expo is to promote local businesses and amenities. A large crowd attended the event and the ESB ecars Nissan LEAF and charge point received a lot of attention from passers by. Other exhibitors included local businesses and organisations such as restaurants, schools and shops. The event was opened by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Naoise Ó Muirí who stressed the importance of local businesses to having a vibrant and prosperous community.
ESB ecars was delighted to be involved in such a great initiative to help local businesses and promote community services. It proved to be a great opportunity to showcase the extent that charge points are being rolled out in communities around Ireland. There are a number of charge points in the Glasnevin area, including one on Hollybank Road, as well as a fast-charge point at Topaz Glasnevin on the Finglas Road.
Apprenticeship programme launched at Rousch in Pakistan
AN APPRENTICESHIP programme at Rousch Power Station in Pakistan was recently introduced by ESBI in conjunction with partners, Descon Power Solutions and plant owner, RPPL. The programme aims to support engineering graduates in their future careers by providing valuable work experience.
Ian Whitehead, Plant Manager at Rousch said, “Within Pakistan, there is a surplus of talented engineering graduates who find it difficult to secure work without experience. Under the programme at Rousch, they receive training and the opportunity to apply their skills in a power-plant setting”.
Currently, there are two management trainee engineers and two engineering technicians on one-year contracts; three engineers and two technicians on six month contracts; and eight engineering undergraduate interns at site for four weeks.
The graduates are assigned to different departments where they receive general or focussed training depending on their level and experience.
“We all meet together once a week and talk about each trainee’s diary in a group format. Several are picked to give a presentation on a chosen subject which hones their presentation skills in a peer group format under the critical eye of their management and engineering mentors,” continued Ian.
During a recent visit to Rousch, Vincent Flynn, Manager of International Operations at ESBI, sat in on one of those meetings. He commented on the significant time and effort put in by management at the plant to mentoring the trainees. He also noted the commitment of the trainees and the very high standard of their presentations, suggesting that the trainee programme at Rousch could serve as a model for other power plants.
Future Power Day 2012
SOME 30 CHILDREN took part in the annual ESB International Future Power Day, held in Stephen Court and Engineers Ireland’s Clyde Road offices on Wednesday August 29th.
Future Power Day is an educational event for students aged 12 to 16 who are encouraged to explore the world of engineering and science through fun, hands-on activities and engaging presentations.
On arrival at Engineers Ireland, Emily Seward, of the Engineer Ireland’s STEPS team, presented a short guide to engineering and an overview of the resources on the STEPS website, such as career videos and maths materials. The STEPS programme encourages primary and post-primary students to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics while also promoting engineering as a career choice.
The students started their first hands-on activity of the day with a K’NEX Challenge. Breaking into groups, each team was charged with designing and making a model of a marine turbine out of the supplied K’NEX building blocks.
The next part of the day was dedicated to presentations from two speakers – Patrick Crowley of ESBI Power System Studies, who spoke about his experiences at a NASA learning programme in the US, and Kieran Tubridy, of ESB Stakeholder Liaison, who talked about wind and renewable energy.
After lunch, and a short trip in an ESB electric vehicle, a number of brief engineering demonstrations and experiments took place. These were led by ESBI engineers Louise Lynch, Susan Stack and Sean O’Donovan, all of ESBI Civil Building & Environmental and Daniel Ahern, of ESBI Power Plant.
The final activity of the day was the construction of a pneumatic tipper truck using TechCard, which is a simple building system designed for teaching science and technology. This activity was overseen by Anyone4science, an organisation that encourages active learning through investigation, experimentation, play and demonstration.
“We’ve been running the programme for five years to try to spark interest in engineering among secondary school children,” said event organiser Ian Riordan, who is HR Coordinator at ESB International. “We want to show that engineering is fun, innovative, challenging and interesting. The feedback we get from the students on the day is very positive,” he said. “They love the hands-on activities and using their imagination.”
ESB ecar ambassadors
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