Second rotation – a good mix, by Johan

Time flies. As the end of the second 6-month rotation has arrived, I figured it was time to write a couple of words about the last few months in Oslo. First of all, Oslo is a nice city to spend a couple of months in. Many of the international trainees have also come to Oslo during these 6 months, and it has been lots of fun to explore the city with them.

Cross Country Skiing World Cup from Frognerseteren

Work-wise it has also been great to spend some time at the HQ (at Lilleaker, Oslo) and to get to know people and the culture there. Along with the people at the Wind Power Asset Management department – who owns and manages our wind parks and contracts – we’ve managed to carve out a good mix of tasks.

Most of my time I’ve been on a project that aims to implement improved data storage and analysis capabilities and that way improve our planning, operations and maintenance activities. On the one hand, we have had to map many in-house processes and through that work met key personnel in different departments. Through mapping of available solutions on the market I’ve, on the other, gotten to learn a bit more about external suppliers and how to interact with and contract them.

To make the most out of my Oslo days, I have also run two projects in parallel with the main project. In the first I’ve been planning a demonstration of a new obstacle warning light regulation system for our own personnel and for relevant government institutions. At the outset, this kind of equipment has the potential to both reduce light pollution for wind park neighbours and to reduce costs. In the other “on the side”-project has been to perform a profitability analysis of one of our wind farms. In many ways it’s similar to the “Integrerad Företagsplanering”-course at Linköping Uni; breaking down profitability into its bits and pieces, analyzing key factors etc. à lots of fun!

Issue breakdown for profitability analysis

 In sum, I’m looking back on a rotation characterized by a good mix:

-          Work analysis and data capabilities in order to improve O&M

-          Profitability analysis

-          Project management training (procurement, H&S, budget work, communication…)

-          On-site experience

-          Lots of networking within Statkraft

As we speak I’m on a Lima-bound flight to start my coming 6month rotation in Peru with SN Power Peru.  New challenges: new technology (hydropower), new market, new culture, new language. New challenges indeed – that’s the way it should be. J

Cheers!

/ j

Ps. Let me just show a picture taken during the 2,5weeks Dmitrijs and I spent on Smøla (island where we have our largest wind farm) to learn from the guys that know our turbines best – our service teams on site. Ds.

Saturday barbeque and hot tub on Smøla

Snow measurement in Northern Norway, by Mari

In my second rotation, I was placed in a small village in Northern-Norway, named Korgen. I was trying to learn production planning of our hydro plants in both short term, few days ahead, and in a longer term, seasons and years. In addition to production planning, I have been out in the field to measure how much snow we have in our catchments, and how much water it will turn into when it melts during spring and summer. 

In the beginning of April we were in the Glomfjord/Svartisen-area for one week. In this area Statkraft measures snow in representative places in the catchment, along predefined lines in the terrain. After measuring the snow depth the density is also measured. To do so, the snow through the whole snow-pack has to be weighted, and that involves a lot of digging. Some of the places had a lot of snow, just look at the picture. I have to admit that I did not dig this whole pit by myself… J

Snow measurment

The catchment of Svartisen is 566 km2, so we had to drive some distances to get from one measuring point to the next, and we got to get a good impression of the area. 38% of the drainage area is glacierized, and Vestisen, the western part of Svartisen, is Norways second largest glacier. A part of it can be seen in the picture below.

Vestisen glacier

Wind Power Strategy, by Alex

Sheringham Shoal substation installation - Copyright Scira Offshore Energy

In the beginning of this year I moved from my home department, Public Affairs and

Sheringham Shoal substation installed - Copyright Scira Offshore Energy

Climate Policies, on to my second period in the Wind Power and Technologies department. There I joined a team called Wind Power Strategy. My main tasks are to keep track of the constantly changing rules and regulations of the British electricity market and everything connected to it. It is important to be aware of these changes, because if the playing field and the rules of the game change, players have to adjust. Just one example: The British government intends to change the way in which renewable energy projects are being financially supported. This would invariably affect Statkraft’s existing and future projects in the UK. As it is often the case in the UK when rules are reformed, the British government gives market actors the chance to comment on suggested new regulations. Assisting the process to define Statkraft’s position in these consultations is also a major part of my work.

The pictures show some recent works on the Sheringham Shoal offshore wind power park, which is located off the coast of Sheringham, North Norfolk, England. This project is jointly owned by Statkraft and Statoil. When finished the park will have an installed capacity of 317 MW. The pictures show the installation works of two substations. Cables from half of the total 88 windmills will run to each station, where a main cables will run from each station towards the land. For more information on the Sheringham Shoal project visit www.scira.co.uk

Coming from Public Affairs, a staff function, I enjoy working in a business area and to have the chance to build up some knowledge about wind power. It enhances my understanding of Statkraft and the value chain.

A bunch of trainees who are usually positioned outside Norway are in Oslo for this second period. And since the Oslo spring is turning out to be somewhat of an early summer I am looking forward to our first BBQ by the fjord. So long!

Trainee in SN Power Southeast Asia – Singapore, by Karolina

Singapore Skyline

So far I am doing really well in Singapore. My job is super exiting! We are currently looking into acquiring a hydropower plant in Vietnam. Vietnam is a challenging market, but with great hydropower potential. I have been working close to the project manager, taking lead on the business plan, the operational plan, the stakeholder mapping, and various Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) planning. I have also taken part in negotiations with potential partners. My colleagues are very nice and they have been taking good care of me.

Celebration in the Philippines

A couple of weeks ago I attended a SN Power conference on CSR in the Philippines together with participants from Nepal, the Philippines, Peru, Vietnam, Chile, and Norway. We had a three day workshop in La Union, which lies a seven hours drive away north of Manila. On our fourth day we visited Binga, one of SN Power’s hydropower plants in Benguet. The entire local community welcomed us and we took part in the opening of the elementary school sponsored by SN Power. We also joined for lunch and a local dancing event. It was so much fun!

Brazil field trip, by Ruth

View from the SNPower Office

Me in front of the “500Kg Gorilla” Company

On February 22nd, after having worked exciting 9 month in the Düsseldorf dispatch team, I packed my things to work in Oslo as an analyst in Long Term Price Forecasts for emerging markets. These are markets in which SN Power operates. One of them is Brazil. Due to the very complex market set-up a field trip was planned and I was given the opportunity to participate. Together with analysts from SN Power and the project leader for emerging markets I got on a plane to Rio de Janeiro. We landed at around 6:00 am and had our first meeting at 8:30 am. So there was no time to enjoy the picturesque hotel location at Ipanema beach. We had some hard working days with meetings lasting four and a half hours without a pause. There was no time for lunch either because there was always another meeting we had to run to. But we were compensated with great two hour Brazilian lunches on other days. And the amazing view from the SN Power offices on the 24th floor made the long working sessions much nicer. You always feel blessed in Rio because of the gigantic Christ statue which can be seen from almost everywhere in the city. The benefit of this intense working is that you learn and understand really quickly, especially if you are as fortunate as I was and work with so many smart and nice colleagues. Through our hard work and fruitful discussions I gained a very detailed knowledge of the market. And besides all the work we also found time to visit the Sugarloaf, the Christ statue and to dance Samba in Lapa. Just like proper tourists.

Of course our analysis is strictly confidential but here are some nice quotes about the Brazilian energy market that I would like to share with you:

“Where does a 500 Kg gorilla sleep? Wherever he wants.” (up to you to guess which company in the Brazilian energy market is the 500 Kg gorilla)

“Do you know about Chanel No. 5 plants? Let me tell you, the regulatory framework made it profitable to built power plants fueled with Chanel No. 5.”

Concerning the spot market in Brazil: “put one hand in a frying pan and one in an ice bucket, in average you are ok.”

“The market is designed by too clever engineers to amuse themselves seeing the economist struggling with it.”

We have finished our report on Brazil and it is time to move on to the next emerging market. I wish you all the best!

Change, by Johan

Windfarm in Sweden - Johan in security-belt

While my last note focused on what I’ve been doing as a project member in the construction of a wind farm, this one will zoom in on organizational change. During the past few months all project development personnel in wind power in Sweden have worked together to design and establish a new process for project development. My role has been to take part in the team working to establish the overall process, its phases, cross-sections, and decision gates. In addition, we have operationalized the new process by implementing a tool that all project members can use as a support in their everyday work.

Without being too lengthy on the details, I’ve learnt a lot about organizational change through this process: Change is difficult, allowing people to influence their working methods creates strong ownership, you need to be able to explain to each and every one “what’s in it for them”, etc. No surprises, indeed, but knowing things in theory is different than practical experience. Through my involvement in these processes I’ll definitely have more to bring to the table next time we’re changing our procedures and structures. In addition, having a real influence on our working methods has been a lot of fun.

I have only just arrived in Oslo, where I’ll be working to develop an analysis model for the optimization of operations and maintenance in our wind farms. Needless to say, I’m excited. Until then, all the best!

Hydrology at Statkraft, by Mari

As trainee in the Hydrology department I am part of the forecast team. With the use of complex models we assess, among other things, the quantity of water that will flow into the different reservoirs. We work daytime shifts and weekends as well. I myself have been working every third weekend over the past three months.

The hydrologists work in an operational team together with a number of colleagues from other departments and units like meteorologists, market analysts, production planners etc. Together we are trying to utilize Statkraft’s energy-resources in the Nordic countries as efficiently as possible.

It is an exciting job because you never know how your day will turn out. There is always something that has changed since the day before, either due to weather conditions or problems with incoming data or the processing thereof. The pace can sometimes be rather high and the work itself can be challenging, but that just adds to the fun.

The picture shows me in front of the computer analyzing the output from our models.

Mari in Statkraft's dispatch center