I chose a career in the power industry because I knew I could use my analytical skills to enable the energy transition.
Who am I
I'm Bec, and I'm an Engineer at AEMO. I'm really interested in the challenges we need to tackle to enable the energy transition in Australia, and I really enjoy using my analytical skills to help solve big technical problems. A key interest of mine in this area is how we can harness new and existing technologies to support a power system with high levels of renewables. Outside of work my interests mostly involve spending time outside, including running, swimming and surfing. I love exploring new places in and around Sydney and I'm always on the lookout for good camping spots nearby.
Why I chose a career in power
I chose a career in the power industry because I knew I could have a real impact on enabling the energy transition. It was the ideal industry for me because I wanted to be able to use my analytical skills to help move to a net-zero economy and reduce the impacts of climate change.
Where it all started
I studied a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Honours) at UNSW. Throughout high school and uni I always had either a hospitality or service job. Once I finished my second year of uni, I started to seek opportunities closer to the power industry. My first exposure to the industry was through several internships at retail energy start-ups, where I learnt about providing customers with carbon-neutral energy plans can steer renewable investment. Once I completed my penultimate year of uni, I then began to seek out more technical roles. My first electrical engineering role was an internship at an engineering consulting firm where I worked in an electrical building services team.
All this experience helped me get selected for AEMOs graduate program. I spent two years in AEMOs graduate program where I rotated through three separate departments of the business. I then began a permanent engineer position in the Operational DER Management team where I've been for a year now.
My work experience.
What's next?
Right now, I'm an Engineer working in the Operational Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Management team at AEMO. My team looks at how AEMO needs to change the way we operate the grid due to the growing capacity of DER. DER includes all energy resources that are in the distributed network, so think of rooftop solar and household batteries. There are new challenges that arise when managing a network with increased DER due to the low visibility and controllability we have over these resources. It’s important we adapt the way we operate the grid so we can continue to harness these energy sources to benefit all consumers. What excites me most is all the new and novel challenges that will continue to arise as the energy transition continues. I look forward to being involved in finding solutions alongside all the driven and passionate people in the power industry.