Energy in Transition

“More than 90 per cent of my customers are in the power industry. It’s important I speak the same language as them, understand their challenges and try to offer them customised digital solutions that solve their problems. Of course, energy transition is a huge issue.

“I need to understand what the industry trends are and how they are evolving in this ever-changing energy landscape, so that I can better support my customers. I want to be at the top of my game and to do that you have to go to conferences and keep learning. I know the IMechE well and it consistently offers good training.

“The reason I took this course was that I wanted to understand what energy transition looks like for my customers. What are the economic implications and who are the main players? How do you balance all these power generation sources coming into the grid? I think energy transition is the most important subject you can study right now.”

“It was a small class of four or five – that is one of the good things about IMechE courses, they are never too large. There was a lot of time to pause during the presentation and have deep discussions about what had just been presented.

“The course was very good in providing a holistic view of the energy transition process and all the different players. I wanted to know how governments participate. How do the utilities, banks, consultancies, venture capitalists, equipment manufacturers and battery manufacturers adapt to becoming greener? At present, we don’t have the capabilities to store energy from wind, for example, so what are some of the potential solutions?

“If you don’t live this every day, it’s not easy to keep up with this information. For the instructor, John Massey, that’s his full-time job. He showed us the whole energy transition picture in two days. He had all the information to hand and provided us with many references and sources of information that I wouldn’t have known existed – or would have had to dig deep to find. I now have all these references, with links, that I revisit, keeping myself updated on the latest trends.

“Hydrogen is a big source of debate. Many of my customers will have to add hydrogen to their portfolio at some point. John was very good at presenting all the hydrogen technologies, what their limitations are, where you can source them and so on. Once these are consolidated in a few years, industrial software companies will be very interested because it’ll be a huge trend in their business. So, while hydrogen installations are not a major part our target clientele’s business at present, they will become significant, and we need to be ready.

“I had time to ask all the questions I wanted. Some of the questions I asked were not straightforward, but John always had the answers. I got really good answers! Plus, there was the technical information he provided, which was comprehensive, too. He didn’t go very deep into the technical side because that was not the purpose of the course. I think the course struck a good balance between technical, commercial and holistic views.”

1 “The course provides a holistic view of all the constraints, the different players in the industry, and how the world is working towards net zero. It’s great to see that we engineers are not the only people working on it.”

2 “The references and the sources of trusted information were very important to me. For example, I now know where I can find out how the energy mix has changed over a set period of time or how much power is being generated by renewables in real-time. That’s invaluable to me and my work.”

3 “The purely technical information will interest any engineer – though I believe it should interest everybody. I think energy transition is one of the biggest problems humanity has faced for a century.”

“I will have a customer conversation about energy transition every week. Also, many of the people I am speaking to inside AVEVA are experts in their industries; so, to be able to say, ‘Hey, guys. I went to this course, look what I learned.’ That is brilliant.

“We are living in times where change management is becoming increasingly important. We need to support our customers in this – not just how we technically support them, but how we support them as partners in energy transition. The question becomes, ‘How does our relationship change with energy transition? How do we go from here to there?’ This course enabled me to understand the issues, and that helps me to help my customers.

“It has also helped me a lot internally. We have a conference in AVEVA that takes place twice a year. I can have conversations with my colleagues and customers on energy transition from a position of knowledge. It’s so useful to have this background and be well educated on the latest trends.”

1 “Come prepared with questions. You have to understand what your company is doing in this area as it is so important, even if it is not your direct responsibility.”

2 “Make a list of all these things you hear or read in the news every day. Are they myths? For example, are governments really favouring oil? Do we have enough land to place wind turbines on? What are the politics of energy, and how are they affected by geopolitical tensions? John provides unbiased answers about policy planning, government funding, research, and more.”

3 “This course should be for everybody – it’s that important. If you are not an engineer working in power generation, don’t worry. It’s not too technical or theoretical. It touches on all the topics equally. Whatever job function you come from within the energy industry (policy, legal, finance etc), you will not get bored!”

“Everybody! It’s that important. I know that not everyone has the budget for it, but energy is such a big issue, I do think everyone should get this information. Electricity generation started in 1892 in the United States and we’re trying to change 130 years of doing things one way. It’s not going to happen overnight but many oil and gas companies are reducing their oil and gas exposure and increasing their efforts on green policies. If you attend this course, you realise how many hundreds of thousands of people are working towards the goal of clean energy.”

The reason I took this course was that I wanted to understand what energy transition looks like for my customers. What are the economic implications and who are the main players? How do you balance all these power generation sources coming into the grid? I think energy transition is the most important subject you can study right now.