During my scholarship I spent 10 months in total overseas, working with GE Energy in Atlanta, GA and then with Northern Powergrid in Leeds, UK.

My reports lists more of the lessons learnt through the scholarship experiences – the following are some highlights:

1)   We should use needs-based segmentation to effectively design and target our programs.

2)  We should increase data sharing and collaboration – particularly with smart meter data.

3)  We should use hypotheses when conducting demand response trials.

4)  We should focus on changing internal culture surrounding demand response such that people treat it as equally dependable as the direct load control (“the big red button”).

The ES Cornwall Memorial Industry Scholarship has played a pivotal role in developing my technical ability and broadening my understanding of the industry and world. I would like to thank the scholarship committee for awarding the scholarship to me and Energex for financially supporting the opportunity. I would also like to thank GE Energy and Northern Powergrid for entrusting me with important work and supporting my cultural assimilation in the USA and UK respectively.

During the past three months with Iberdrola Engineering and Construction (IEC), I have been working on the substation automation system (SAS) base design for Scottish Power’s IEC 61850 pilot project; the Windyhill 132kV Switchgear Replacement project.

In addition to this, I have been involved with scoping the protection and control requirements for Scottish Power’s second IEC 61850 substation.

I have also provided input into an additional services project that aimed to scope the high level requirements of implementing Iberdrola’s IEC 61850 SAS standard (iSAS) in the Scottish Power network.

This quarter, I have also had the opportunity to visit a number of Scottish Power’s substations and also Scottish Power’s Whitelee wind farm, which is one of the largest on-shore wind farms in Europe.

It should be noted that due to confidentiality, I am not able to include specific information relating to customer projects.

I welcome your feedback on this report and my goals for the next quarter.

During the first three months of my placement with ECOtality, I have been working as a Ground
Energy Storage Engineer as part of the Engineering team based in Phoenix, Arizona.

ECOtality North America is a leader in clean electric transportation and storage technologies, and provides Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment and services for Residential, Commercial and Industrial applications.  ECOtality has also designed and currently manages the world’s largest EV infrastructure demonstration – The EV Project.

The key work I have carried out during this quarter has included researching the USA electricity ancillary services and demand response markets/programs, so as to work towards producing a report outlining the technical/economical requirements and opportunities for ECOtality to participate in these markets/programs.

In addition I have been investigating the concept of energy storage system assisted electric vehicle DC fast charging units, so as to work towards writing an engineering white paper on how and where to deploy such a system.

Given the confidential nature of much of the work I have undertaken, I have had to omit certain details of some developments that are of commercial significance to ECOtality.

I would welcome any feedback and advice from the committee and all interested parties regarding this report or my proposed goals for the next quarter, which will be my final quarter on the ES Cornwall Memorial Industry Scholarship.

The E.S Cornwall Scholarship has been running for 60 years, and previous scholars have described their experiences as follows:

“Above all, it was a life changing experience and my wife and I fully immersed ourselves in travel, new friends, new experiences, and enriching our lives.”
Brian Becconsall (1965)

“In a profound way, this period has become a reference point in my professional life. Since then I have a broader toolkit and some great contacts. But the value of the experience goes far beyond my work objective. I consider it as one of the defining periods of my life.”
Frank Montiel (1998)

“The ES Cornwall scholarship is not only a great opportunity to further your career but also to see the world. The niche experience gained will be an asset to you professionally but will also benefit prospective employers and the Australian ESI as a whole.”
Aidan Roberts (2008)

“Aside from the work based activities, I have been fortunate enough to experience a different way of life and benefited from involving myself the variety of cultures and people in Europe, Northern Afri-ca & North America. I have many great memories from my time abroad, both professionally and personal – far too many to list.”
Nick Craig (2008)

More details about what these people thought are here in the Scholarship Brochure.

The full list of scholars is here – with their profiles on LinkedIn provided (where available), so you can see how their scholarship experiences have benefited them throughout their careers:

Colin Morwood (1957)
Frank Schroder (1959)
Waren Wager (1962)
Graham Francis (1965)
Brian Becconsall (1965)
Michael Sargent (1969)
John Leggo (1972)
Simon Bartlett (1976)
Kerry Connell (1978)
Gary Price (1983)
Adam Aspinall (1986)
Robert Weir (1990)
David Bones (1992)
Paul McArdle (1995)
Frank Montiel (1998)
Daniel Anderson (2005)
Nicholas Craig (2008)
Reena Kwong (2008)
Jonathan Dennis (2008)
Aidan Roberts (2008)
Sarah Hiley (2011)
Jared McKee (2011)
Don McPhail (2011)
Alexandra Price (2012)

Now it is your opportunity to benefit from similar experiences, of your own design.

Applications are now open – until 31st March 2013

Applications are invited from Queensland university graduates.

The scholarship is awarded every three years in memory of Edward Satchwell Cornwall who, in the first half of the 20^th century, was a highly influential member of the Queensland energy industry and a strong advocate of tertiary education and professional development for engineers in the power industry.

Previously open only to University of Queensland graduates, now engineering graduates from all Queensland universities are eligible to apply for the E.S Cornwall Scholarship.

The scholarship recipient will receive $3,000 per month for a period of between nine to 18 months to pursue a program of paid work in the global power industry outside of Australia.  The program may include:

• Employment by a manufacturing or research organisation or by an electricity supply authority, or by two or more such bodies in succession; or
• Study for a higher degree.

 Applications are now open and close on 31 March 2013.

To learn more – come to the Scholarship Information Night

Previous scholarship recipients and university representatives will talk about their experiences and give advice on Scholarship application requirements at an information session to be held at St Leo’s College, Saint Lucia:

               Time:    5pm to 6.30 pm (followed by a BBQ re-union of Past Scholars)

               Date:    Friday 15th February, 2013

               St Leo’s College – Leodian Room
               The University of Queensland
               College Road, St Lucia Campus

               RSVP : by Thursday 7^th February to m.shields@uq.edu.au
               – phone 3365 2035

To apply

Please download this Scholarship Application Form and return by 31st March 2013 – complete with your study plan.

This quarter I commenced work as a protection and control engineer with Iberdrola Engineering and Construction (IEC) in Glasgow.

During my time with IEC, I will be working as part of a small team to develop a new substation automation standard for ScottishPower based on IEC 61850. This standardisation work will be carried out in conjunction with an IEC 61850 pilot project.

Over the past few months, I have scoped the protection and control requirements for the pilot project and  undertaken the high level design, required by ScottishPower, as part of the initial design phase. In addition to this, I have been involved in evaluating the various bay level devices available on the market and assessing their level of compliance with Iberdrola’s IEC 61850 requirements as well as the specific requirements of the pilot project.

I have also had the opportunity, this quarter, to attend the biennial CIGRE session in Paris and visit the University of Strathclyde.

It should be noted that due to confidentiality, I am not able to include specific information relating to customer projects.

I welcome your feedback on this report and my goals for the next quarter.

During the second three months of my placement with DNV KEMA, I have continued working as an Electrical Engineer as part of the New Energy Technologies team in the Clean Energy Services business unit based in Arnhem, the Netherlands. The New Energy Technologies team is made up of a number of professionals from various technical and business backgrounds and has a focus on projects related to energy storage, carbon capture, transition to sustainable energies, and industrial use of polymers, for governments, utilities and businesses.

The key work I have carried out during this quarter has included continuing on with the development of a grid modelling and optimisation tool for the European Commission supported NEMO project.  I have also worked on a project to model the Dutch LV grid of 2050 to make predictions on the cost to network augmentation to support predicted penetration of EVs, PVs, heating technology (gas vs. electric booster), and 2h and 12h shiftable loads, as well as the predicted customer demand profiles.

Given the confidential nature of much of my work I have undertaken, I have had to omit certain details of some developments that are of commercial significance to DNV KEMA and their clients.

I would welcome any feedback and advice from the committee and all interested parties, regarding this report or my proposed goals for the next quarter.

PS - I have now arrived in Phoenix Arizona in the USA and have started with Ecotality.

Specifically, an overview of the developments of workgroup C6 – Distribution Systems and Dispersed Generation – is covered, focusing on the impact of dispersed generation, electric vehicles, energy storage, and demand side management, on the distribution network.

A complete list of presented papers is included in Appendix 1 and these papers can also be made available upon request.

Please find attached here my third quarterly report for the ES Cornwall Memorial Industry Scholarship for the period 2nd April 2012 – 1st July 2012 during my employment with DNV KEMA in the Netherlands.

During the first three months of my placement with DNV KEMA, I have been working as an Electrical Engineer as part of the New Energy Technologies team in the Clean Energy Services business unit based in Arnhem, the Netherlands. The New Energy Technologies team is made up of a number of professionals from various technical and business backgrounds and has a focus on projects related to energy storage, carbon capture, transition to sustainable energies, and industrial use of polymers, for governments, utilities and businesses.

The key work I have carried out during this quarter has included working on the development of a tool to optimise the use of energy storage devices in power systems for the purpose of managing network loading and voltage with respect to loads, including electric vehicle charging, and distributed generation. This work has been part of a European Commission supported consortium project with partners from Germany and Denmark.

Given the confidential nature of much of my work I have undertaken, I have had to omit certain details of some developments that are of commercial significance to DNV KEMA and their clients.

I would welcome any feedback and advice from the committee and all interested parties, regarding this report or my proposed goals for the next quarter

During my final quarter with ABB, I have been working in the test field, undertaking the system integration, system testing and ABB internal Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) for the Millmerran and Bulli Creek 330kV iPASS substations.

I have also had the opportunity to visit ABB’s IEC 61850 System Verification Centre (SVC) and attend a technical presentation on the SVC.

It should be noted that due to the confidential nature of the work I have undertaken I am not able to include any technical information relating to ABB specific tools and processes.

I welcome your feedback on this report and my goals for the next quarter.

This quarter concludes my nine month term with ABB Switzerland.

On the 23rd of July I commenced my next nine month placement in Scotland with Iberdrola Engineering and Construction (IEC), a subsidiary of the Iberdrola Group

Please find linked here my second quarterly report for the ES Cornwall Memorial Industry Scholarship for the period 5th December 2011 to 4th March 2012 during the second half of my employment with UK Power Networks.

During this three months of my placement with UK Power Networks, I have continued on being a part of the Low Carbon London Programme, working as a Trial Design Engineer in the Solution Design Authority team.

The Low Carbon London programme is a UK Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) Low Carbon Network Fund supported demonstration programme focussed on the effect the transition to a low carbon economy will have on distribution networks. The programme is made up of a partnership of 13 companies, with UK Power Networks being the lead partner.

The key work I have carried out during this quarter has included hosting review workshops and finalising the high level design of the Residential Smart Metering, Industrial and Commercial Distributed Generation, Industrial and Commercial Demand Response, and Networks trials.

I have also drafted the Hypothesis Test Approach documentation for the Electric Vehicle, Small Scale Embedded Generation, Heat Pump, Industrial and Commercial Distributed Generation, and Industrial and Commercial Demand Response trials.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working on the Low Carbon London programme and feel I have gained and developed a lot of useful knowledge related to my scholarship topic and the broader international power industry.

I would welcome any feedback and advice from the committee and all interested parties, regarding this report or my proposed goals for the next quarter.

As I have now finished my six month tenure with UK Power Networks, I am taking part of the month of March 2012 off to spend some time travelling Eastern Europe.

In this time I will also relocate to the Netherlands where I will be commencing a six month engineering role with KEMA in Arnhem on the 2nd of April 2012.