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Data is the new water. It’s everywhere, floods of the stuff: but it is only any good if you know which information has value and which is just a puddle of data. Then you need to collect it, filter it and ‘bottle’ it. And then can it be used to slake our thirst for innovation.

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The research has been carried out by Dr Edward Oughton from the UK Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium (ITRC) at the University of Oxford, and the Centre for Risk Studies at Cambridge Judge Business School.

Thisà‚ articleà‚ wasà‚ originallyà‚ publishedà‚ inà‚ Smart Energy International issue 1-2020.à‚ Read theà‚ fullà‚ digimag hereà‚ orà‚ subscribe to receive a print copy here.

He said: “Critical national infrastructure such as smart electricity networks are susceptible to malicious cyberattacks which could cause substantial power outages and cascading failure affecting multiple business, health and education organisations as well as domestic supply.”

And he warns that such attacks are likely to become more and more prevalent.

In 2015, a cyber-physical attack took place on the Ukrainian electricity distribution network, leading to a loss of power for 225,000 people.

A Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community report published earlier this year also notes that “China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea increasingly use cyber operations to threaten both minds and machines in an expanding number of ways ” to steal information, to influence our citizens, or to disrupt critical infrastructure”.

In a new paper called Cyber-Physical Attacks on Electricity Distribution Infrastructure Networks, Oughton calculates what the GDP losses would be from a similar-sized attack and finds conservative scenarios ranging from à‚£20.6 million for a four-substation event to à‚£111.4 million for a 14-substation incident.

Even though the research focused on conservative scenarios similar in size to the Ukrainian attack, the paper demonstrates that 1.5 million people would be affected even by a relatively small attack.

Oughton said that until he and his fellow researchers carried out this study, little was known about the effects and costs of cyber physical attacks on electricity networks.

“Such networks are proving to be a point of failure which many people previously thought impermeable.”

Professor Daniel Ralph of the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies said that the research “will be of interest to governments, private infrastructure operators, commercial consumers of infrastructure services and other stakeholders who want to understand systemic risks from cyber-physical attacks on critical national infrastructure.” Oughton explained: “Cyberattacks are on the increase and gathering data and modelling the effects of such cyberphysical attacks is essential to develop risk analytics for emerging threats on critical national infrastructure.”

The paper uses the UK as a case study and identifies the direct impact on household and business consumers of power; the indirect impact of a cyber-physical attack to infrastructure beyond electricity; and a greater understanding of systemic risk arising from cyber and smart energy systems.

The research demonstrates that these types of attacks on electricity distribution substations could lead to further indirect infrastructure cascading failure across telecoms, freshwater supply, wastewater and even railways.

Economic impacts and disruptive effects on consumption, labour supply and business confidence are also highlighted, identifying impacts on GDP, capital stock, investment, and other indicators. SEI

This article was originally published by Power Engineering International,a Clarion Energy media brand.

The post The true cost of cyberattacks appeared first on Power Engineering International.

Thisà‚ articleà‚ wasà‚ originallyà‚ publishedà‚ inà‚ Smart Energy International issue 1-2020à‚ and appeared in theà‚ PEI – Supplement. Read theà‚ fullà‚ digimag hereà‚ orà‚ subscribe to receive a print copy here.

The MTR105 offers insulation resistance testing at user-selectable voltages from 50V to 1,000V. Test voltages are stabilised, which ensures reliable results and eliminates the risk of over-voltage damage.

In addition to standard insulation tests, the MTR105 supports PI, DAR and timed tests, which can provide valuable extra information about insulation condition.

As a further aid to accurate and reliable insulation testing, the instrument features a guard terminal that can be used to help eliminate the effects of surface leakage For low resistance testing, the MTR105 offers a single continuous range from 0.01àŽ© to 1.0MàŽ© for continuity measurement. It supports four-wire testing up to 10àŽ© and has a bi-directional test option that automatically reverses the current without the need to reconnect the test leads. Users can select a test current of 20mA or 200mA. A continuity buzzer function, with an adjustable threshold, is also provided.

The MTR105 is suitable for use in CAT III applications at supply voltages up to 600V and incorporates an extensive range of features to maximise user safety and to protect it against accidental damage. These include live circuit detection and test inhibit features or insulation testing and continuity measurements, and default display of live circuit voltage on all ranges. The detection and inhibit functions continue to operate even if the instrument’s internal protection fuse has failed.

Featuring robust construction to ensure a long reliable service life, Megger’s new MTR105 static motor analyser has an almost indestructible weatherproof case with an IP54 ingress protection rating that includes the battery and fuse compartments.

A shock-absorbing rubber over-moulding provides further protection as well as making the instrument easy to grip.

As standard, the MTR105 is supplied complete with leads and a variety of clamps and probes for insulation testing, and with a Kelvin-clip lead set for use when making four-wire low-resistance measurements. PEI About Megger

The extensive Megger product portfolio provides electrical test equipment for an exceptionally wide range of applications at any point of the electricity network.

From small handheld low voltage equipment such as multifunction installation testers through to high voltage asset test equipment like insulation resistance testers, circuit breaker analysers, protection relay test systems to transformer condition measurement devices.

www.megger.com

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Thisà‚ articleà‚ wasà‚ originallyà‚ publishedà‚ inà‚ Smart Energy International issue 1-2020à‚ and appeared in theà‚ PEI – Supplement. Read theà‚ fullà‚ digimag hereà‚ orà‚ subscribe to receive a print copy here.

They also need to provide the flexibility to compensate for mismatched dimensional tolerances in the two parts of the connector and guarantee a reliable connection even after a large number of mating cycles. For example, high and medium voltage installations are designed to have long maintenance intervals, with the first overhaul often not occurring until 25 years of operation, by which time up to 10,000 mating cycles may have occurred.

The MULTILAM flexo ML-CUX is a two-component spring contact system which optimises its electrical and mechanical properties, giving a high current carrying capacity and a low contact resistance, and producing minimal contact heating even with constant high loads and after thousands of mating cycles.

The high number of mating cycles possible is particularly advantageous in applications involving expansion joints, where thermal cycling can mean that the connector constantly needs to slide while remaining in full electrical contact.

Able to withstand extreme current peaks, it has a short-circuit current carrying capacity of up to 4.4 kA/cm. This means that fewer bands may be needed in larger configurations, allowing two or even three other contact elements to be replaced by a single ML-CUX. A more compact design and reduced material costs are therefore achievable without compromising performance.

A further advantage is its high tolerance compensation: the large contact area makes it highly flexible and able to cope with significant angular and axial offsets. This gives manufacturers more freedom to design a variety of contact solutions and allows simpler, more cost-effective production.

The MULTILAM contact system consists of a stainless steel spring carrier band with louvres attached by rivets. The carrier band is optimised for its mechanical properties, while the louvres’ design is chosen for their electrical properties. No compromises were made in the selection of the materials and the design of the contact louvre. This separation between the mechanical and electrical parts means a product that offers crucial advantages over coil spring contacts, while being able to be installed just as easily.

With a low contact resistance and minimal contact heating, even at constant high loads, its high current carrying capacity enables a significantly more compact design, allowing it to be implemented more easily even in smaller systems. This ultimately benefits users by leading to lower costs for material use.

Large working area

A simple shallow rectangular slot is all that is needed to hold the ML-CUX. This allows for slimmer designs than with using coil spring contacts while still guaranteeing reliable positioning between plug and socket. Installation is simple, as it only involves placement of the contact louvre in the slot by hand.

In the electricity supply and distribution industry, components of different origins are often installed together. Engineers are therefore faced with mechanical problems and have to deal with large dimensional tolerances, offsets and angular deviations.

It is possible to overcome these challenges as the large working area makes it highly flexible and able to compensate for significant angular and axial offsets without difficulty. This allows more freedom to design a wide variety of applications and enables simpler, cost-effective production.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Selwyn Corns is managing director of Stàƒ¤ubli Electrical Connectors UK.

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Despite the recent increase in biomethane facilities, most of the biogas produced from anaerobic digestion (AD) is used to generate electricity and heat, making the combined heat and power (CHP) engines that convert biogas into usable energy a vital piece of equipment.

Thisà‚ articleà‚ wasà‚ originallyà‚ publishedà‚ inà‚ Smart Energy International issue 1-2020à‚ and appeared in theà‚ PEI – Supplement. Read theà‚ fullà‚ digimag hereà‚ orà‚ subscribe to receive a print copy here.

But with many of these engines now at least five years old, what is the impact when they fail or underperform? And is there any alternative to either costly engine replacements or expensive service contracts?

Here are my five smart upgrades that can transform any gas engine into a more efficient and profitable piece of kit.

Install an open-access control panel

Many service providers use a ‘closed’ control panel as a means to coerce the owner into a restrictive service contract. This means that you are potentially looking at your engine being down for days whenever there’s a problem while you wait for the service provider to despatch an engineer to your site ” often at an additional cost to you.

By upgrading to an intelligent, open access control panel, an operator can remotely take control of their own engine via their laptop, phone or tablet; instantly assess how their engine is performing; control their engine’s running parameters, adjusting them to match the biogas composition; and restart their engine themselves within seconds ” without even needing to be on site.

Fit a flexible fuel mixer

If an engine runs too lean it can backfire, resulting in exhaust damage, vibrations and instability, and causing parts to wear out more quickly. If it runs too rich, then too much fuel will be used, the engine can overheat, and there is a risk of parts burning out.

A flexible and fast-acting mixer enables an engine to handle variations in gas volumes and composition.

This is especially important for biogas plants treating food waste, as this is a constantly changing product. These air/gas mixers comprise a range of flow bodies to suit every feedstock type, based on a plant’s individual gas composition. If the composition alters significantly, the flow body can be changed as required, ensuring the perfect fuel mix every time.

Use an ignition controller with pulse technology

If your engine shudders during the ignition phase, replacing the controller with one using pulse technology will deliver more reliable ignition and prolong the life of your equipment.

This creates thousands of tiny pulses, the intensity and duration of which can be programmed according to the plant’s demands, and which will remain the same throughout the lifetime of the ignition controller.

Switch to a smart knocking control system

A ‘knocking’ sound usually signals that the gas is igniting too early. A sophisticated, intelligent knocking control system can detect this and automatically alter the ignition timing point. If knocking still occurs, it will then reduce the load of the engine or even shut it down, preventing catastrophic engine failure.

Specify a high-temperature speed control

The throttle actuator responsible for speed control is usually located close to the intercooler ” a part of the engine which is particularly hot. Proximity to a heat source can cause this component to deteriorate more rapidly, often leading to poor performance or failure. To counteract this, look to utilise specialist high-temperature throttle actuators, which help to prolong operational life. They also comprise an integrated throttle body which contains fewer moving parts by being directly connected to the throttle. Not only does this make for more accurate control of speed, it also incurs less wear and tear.

Take pre-emptive action. Every day that an AD plant isn’t generating electricity is a day it’s losing money, so don’t wait for your engine to fail before taking action. By scheduling an engine upgrade to coincide with any planned maintenance shutdown, operators can benefit from increased engine availability, more reliable performance, longer-lasting components and greater electrical output.

About the author

James Thompson is managing director of independent CHP parts and service provider Gen-C.

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In a digital energy space that is getting more crowded by the week, UniperTechnologies likes to think that it has a big advantage: as an owner and operator of conventional power plants, the company has been doing ‘digitalisation’ long before it became a buzzword.

Uniper was born from E.ON and the German energy giant had been developing solutions to enhance its conventional fleet for decades.

“Thirty years ago we built our own thermodynamic set of modelling tools,” says Pete Davies, head of Digital Engineering Solutions at Uniper Technologies.”Twenty-five years ago we built our own vibration monitoring tools; 20 years ago we built our own market modelling and scheduling systems; 15 years ago we did holistic technical risk management; ten years ago we did advanced condition monitoring; and about five years ago we did maintenance optimisation.”

Thisà‚ articleà‚ wasà‚ originallyà‚ publishedà‚ inà‚ Smart Energy International issue 1-2020.à‚ Read theà‚ full digimag hereà‚ orà‚ subscribe to receive a print copy here.

And in each of those cases the company built the solution itself, because as Davies explains: “We went to market but couldn’t find what we needed.”

All that engineering competence stayed in Uniper following the split with E.ON, and the new company took the strategic decision to grow the engineering business.

And grow it has, with the latest innovation being Enerlytics, an IIoT solution that takes all of that decades-acquired expertise and rolls it into one holistic package that is intended to optimize an entire power plant rather than focus on one single bit of equipment.

“Based on our extensive knowledge and experience around the energy transition we had built these great sets of individual solutions; now we combine these on a single platform to help fellow owners and operators who are starting their transition to ensure that they stay relevant in a renewables changing market.”

Davies says that conventional plants that would once have had a handful of starts a year are now being asked to potentially perform several starts a day, and to achieve this within a safe and flexible operation “you need to understand the intricacies between each of your disciplines and each of your components.”

“You need to understand the condition of the asset and what risks you are carrying. You have to make some quite broad holistic decisions quickly and that is where the digital tools that we built up over time start to pay significant dividends.” He says that while advanced condition monitoring, vibration monitoring, performance monitoring and thermodynamic monitoring are all “tools that you can buy from different people, what they won’t touch on is risk management, combining those and optimisation around them”.

“Some of them might touch on maintenance optimisation, but it’s only as an asset owner and operator that you really understand what risk management entails. And because it’s your asset, you’re managing the risk and you’re looking to push those parts to the maximum. We’ve done that on our own assets and now we can help others around the world do that.”

He adds that Uniper’s other big advantage is that “we are an engineering company first ” we are not just an IT firm. You can get some quite cool IT solutions, but they lack the engineering domain knowledge. The history that we have with all the various tools that have been driven by engineers and engineering ideas, we have tested on our own assets. So we know that they work for engineers ” and that is quite a differentiator and an important aspect.”

Davies and his team ” who are headquartered at Uniper’s Technology Centre in Nottingham, England ” are targeting Enerlytics at those regions where power operators are at the start of their energy transition journey.

“Every market is completely different ” they are at different levels of maturity,” he explains. “I’d say the European market is the most mature in terms of market mechanisms, renewables penetration and the resulting impact that has on reliable fossil assets.”

He says that in Asia, “it depends on what country you’re operating in, because they are all at different points. India is starting its transition ” they want 50:50 coal and solar because those two are their largest resource base ” and they are starting to think about the impact of flexible generation.

“In South Korea, where they are starting their renewables journey, they are very good plant operators ” some of the best in the world ” but they are not ready for the impact of renewables.

Those countries are just starting their digitalisation journey. They’ve spent a lot of time chasing top-end megawatts, so thermo-dynamic tools are great. But now they are thinking that their plant operations are going to change; they are under market pressures and government pressures and they need to know what the risks are that they are carrying.”

For plant operators in these countries, the trick ” and it’s a very difficult trick ” is staying ahead of their country’s energy transition and having in place the tools to deliver flexible power from a plant that traditionally has operated in a relatively inflexible mode.

And even when some do react to market and government pressures, too often they react too late, or are overly-conservative about their actions.

“The danger for many operators is not realizing when the need for flexible generation is starting,” says Davies.

“Often they find themselves in the midst of it. The ultimate goal is to make a plant operate safely in a way for which it was not originally designed and that can be achieved by combining engineering expertise with digital tools.”

This combination of human engineering skills and digital enhancements is essential, says Davies. One complements the other to reach an end result that would not be possible by utilising just one of them.

And although he is keen to stress that “engineering will never be replaced by digital IT tools in a power station ” not in my lifetime”, he does believe that we are on the verge of “a tipping point coming in the industry where it will understand the real value of a digitally-engineered set of tools”.

For those companies planning to embark on a so-called digital transformation, his advice is simple: stay focused on specifics.

“There’s not a right or a wrong way, but there is what I would term better ways. Some people have tried to ‘boil the ocean’: they think if they get all the data in the same place, they will be able to achieve all the benefits, which in my honest opinion is nonsense.

“What you need to start doing is working on very specific problems. So it could be you’ve got issues around condensing, or fouling, or reliability. So you need to focus on that aspect and it might be you need to implement advanced condition monitoring or a thermo-dynamic model. But as long as you stay within the understanding of what your problem is, and then target your solutions at it, then that is how you gain the benefits.”

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As the world tries to limit the use of fossil fuel energy, the demand for renewable energy is increasing, with wind becoming a heavily relied on resource.

In 2018, Europe’s wind energy investments accounted for 63 per cent of renewable energy, compared to just 52 per cent in 2017. To meet the growing demand for wind energy, manufacturers are increasing turbine output and as a result, adapt their blade designs.

Wind energy is clean, cost effective and sustainable. As environmental and climate change concerns are influencing a greater need for renewable and sustainable energy, wind turbines are a substantial part of the solution, with over 340,000 wind turbines in the world already used to produce energy.

For example, China is responsible for over a third of the world’s wind energy capacity and in 2015 installed more wind turbines than the EU, whereas Scotland generated enough electricity from wind in 2018 to power the equivalent of five million homes.

Industry experts believe that if the demand for wind energy continues, one third of the world’s electricity needs will be fulfilled by wind power by 2050.

Today, manufacturers are facing continued pressure to produce higher returns on turbines, with improved cost efficiency and increased power output that can generate more energy.

To achieve this, manufacturers are creating turbines with longer blades that capture more wind, in turn generating more energy. However, a longer blade means increased weight, which works against efficient power production. In order to maintain a powerful and efficient turbine with longer blades, manufacturers require materials that are lightweight and stronger than traditionally used materials.

A composite solution

A large part of a turbine blade’s strength comes from a support beam, or spar cap, which runs the length of the blade. Traditionally, spar caps have been made out of fibreglass, which provides the needed strength and stiffness, with less weight than other materials like metals.

Yet, with the push for longer blades, carbon fibre is used as its lighter weight compared to fibreglass, allowing longer blades to capture more wind energy. Typically, each blade manufacturer will determine in their design the point at which carbon becomes the optimal solution, and the spar cap is designed accordingly.

A composite manufacturer can work closely with turbine and blade manufacturers to engineer, manufacture and deliver composite solutions for blades, including fibreglass and carbon fibre spar caps, as well as many other composite solutions used in wind turbines. It will use its experience of design, combined with manufacturing technology, to help turbine manufacturers produce more efficient turbines by reviewing design specifications and proposing an appropriate solution.

To keep up with the growing demand for wind energy, manufacturers need to invest in long-lasting, high-performance composites that contribute efficiencies to help ensure the maximum amount of energy is produced.

Using a composite manufacturer means that design specifications will be thoroughly reviewed and met in order to achieve a powerful and efficient turbine.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:|

Dag Kirschke is wind energy segment owner for Finland-headquartered composite manufacturer Exel Composites.

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The current contract for a differences-based business model for funding new nuclear power plants in the UK unnecessarily increases the cost of power for customers.

Thisà‚ articleà‚ wasà‚ originallyà‚ publishedà‚ inà‚ Smart Energy International issue 1-2020à‚ and appeared in theà‚ PEI – Supplement. Read theà‚ fullà‚ digimag hereà‚ orà‚ subscribe to receive a print copy here.

However, switching to a regulated returns (RAB) model could significantly reduce the cost of nuclear without exposing electricity customers to excessive risk.

Currently, the UK uses a contract for differences (CfD) model for the build of new nuclear power plants. This is a 35year contract (from the start of operation) which is intended to fix the revenue per unit of generation at a pre-agreed level, known as the strike price, and in the case of the Hinkley Point nuclear plant, is agreed at à‚£92.50/MWh.

The CfD sets out the conditions under which any revision of the strike price will be allowed and how that will be done.

However, there are a number of weaknesses with this model in terms of getting the best deal for electricity consumers in the UK:

Firstly, the CfD approach allocates most of the construction cost overrun risk to the project owners. Although this may appear to be sensible, the scale of potential liabilities relative to company balance sheets severely limits the number of companies able to participate and creates a risk perception that feeds into the required return. The recent financial stress placed on Areva and Toshiba by nuclear contracts will only amplify this issue.

As a result, the cost to consumers will significantly increase due to a combination of cost contingencies and increased returns required by investors.

The risks from regulatory change are high for nuclear power due to the length of its construction and operating periods.

While the current CfD terms provide some protection against these risks, it’s down to potential investors to decide whether specific clauses go far enough and provide sufficient protection against the range of uncertainties that can be imagined over a 35-year contract term and, importantly, those that currently cannot be imagined given the pace of change in the UK electricity sector.

The capital requirements and the timescales for construction and operation of nuclear plants are key drivers when it comes to the cost of nuclear electricity. The most competitive financing cost for major projects is generally achieved where the risk profile of an investment matches the requirements of a large and liquid pool of investors.

Other low carbon electricity options have seen financing costs reduce sharply, as with pension funds ” and their huge investment pots ” becoming more comfortable with the risks involved. However, under the CfD model, nuclear is a long way away from a risk profile that lends itself to competitive financing.

In fact, the CfD risk allocation is significantly narrowing the pool of potential investors into new nuclear projects, as it forces these investors to “bet the farm” in terms of the scale of their risk liability, in addition to making them accept regulatory risks that are both very hard to bind and only partially within the control of the UK government.

Unsurprisingly, the investment return that the investors need to be paid reflects these risks. The challenge to the use of CfDs is that the risks may be greater from a private investor’s perspective than from those of the government or electricity customers, and therefore allocating these risks to the nuclear investor through the CfD model leads to a worse deal overall.

A RAB model for nuclear power

There are numerous infrastructure companies in the UK with regulated returns, most notably, gas, and electricity networks and water companies.

The two standard elements of the Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model are the ability to recover efficiently incurred costs from customers and a defined incentive structure.

When recovering costs from the consumer, different mechanisms are used to set the efficient cost level, including benchmarking, market testing and uncertainty mechanisms to pick up actual costs where efficient costs can’t be estimated through alternative approaches. In addition to this, a defined incentive structure shares cost savings where these are achieved and enables the regulated company’s investors to benefit from outperformance on various measures of the company’s activities (or outputs in RIIO parlance).

This type of commercial structure could easily be applied to new nuclear projects. Build costs for different parts of the overall construction effort would be fixed where possible; other component parts would have cost recovery with material incentives for cost control but not at a level that threatens the commercial viability of the contractors.

Furthermore, changes in regulation would be dealt with in a rolling assessment of efficient costs; and rights to recover an allowed revenue would remove any artificial risks in the CfD structure associated with changes to the operation of the electricity market.

In its most recent price control review, the National Grid had a WACC (blended overall financing cost of equity and debt) of approximately 4.5% in real terms.

Since then, investment returns have fallen and Ofwat expects that the WACC of UK regulated water companies will start with a ‘2’ in real terms for the price control period starting in 2019. An appropriate WACC for nuclear investment would depend on the construction and performance incentives placed on the investor. However, it is likely that the WACC would be significantly lower than under the current CfD model, in which case the costs of future nuclear power would be much closer to those of offshore wind.

Taking into account the system benefits of nuclear versus wind, particularly as the wind fleet grows and cannibalization becomes more of an issue, this suggests that nuclear, under a regulated model, would be a very competitive part of the future power system. In addition, the reduced WACC also dampens the effect of cost-overruns and construction delays because the cost of financing-sunk investment would be lower.

In conclusion, under the CfD model currently used by nuclear, the large burden of risk limits the build to a handful of investors with increased costs for the consumer from the point of operation. However, nuclear could learn from other large infrastructure sectors, switch to regulated returns and take advantage of the competitive financing and increased savings at a lower cost to the consumer.

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I was January 2006 and we were travelling on foot under the cover of darkness. We could only travel between the hours of two and five in the morning for fear of being spotted by soldiers or passers-by.

The route we were on was chosen specifically by the people smuggling us to avoid detection and mostly took us through rural villages and farms.

Thisà‚ articleà‚ wasà‚ originallyà‚ publishedà‚ inà‚ Smart Energy International issue 1-2020 and appeared in the PEI – Supplement. Read theà‚ fullà‚ digimag hereà‚ orà‚ subscribe to receive a print copy here.

The small group I was with consisted of myself and three other men. We’d been told that we would be escorted to the border by a smuggler, but to protect his identity he pretended to be a migrant.

This meant that none of the three men being smuggled knew if the other was the smuggler or the one being smuggled.

It took a total of eight days and nights to walk 270km across the width of Eritrea and into Sudan. Crossing the border, we were met by the Sudanese military. It was a tense moment ” it wasn’t until very recently that Eritreans were freely allowed to leave the country without the risk of being shot ” but we explained we were fleeing from Eritrea and were handed over to the UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, before being taken to a Sudanese refugee camp to be processed.

Perhaps I was being paranoid, perhaps it was nothing, but I’d heard stories of other Eritreans who had made the same journey being identified, arrested and taken back across the border. I was worried there would be spies embedded in the camp so, shortly after completing my paperwork, I fled once again, this time to Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan. I was more fortunate on this leg and managed to hitchhike part of the way.

It was a long and lonely journey, but one that gave me time to reflect on the gravity of leaving my family behind, many of whom were also in forced jobs. Growing up, I had a normal childhood like anyone else. I went to school, passed my high school matriculation exams and showed an interest in physics and mathematics.

Straight after leaving high school, I had spent four months at SAWA military academy. After completing this basic military training, I was allowed to pursue further education in the University of Asmara after passing my matriculation exam. Perhaps because the alternative is so unappealing to so many people, competition to get into university is tough.

Around 8000 students apply to the University of Asmara that year and some 1200 pass the entrance exam, with approximately 500 being offered a place on the degree courses. I passed the entrance exam and started a degree in electrical and electronic engineering in September 2000 after completing my freshman year.

Before I could graduate, however, I had to do another year of national service. After completion, my degree helped me to avoid harsh military service and I was assigned a civil service job in the Eritrean Electricity Authority. At the time, those with a degree could expect to earn less than à‚£1/hour, with the caveat that they would be kept on standby for the military reserve.

My prospects were bleak. I had been given a taste for technology and I wanted more. The idea of spending the rest of my life in what effectively amounted to forced labour was not promising. I was 24 years old, ambitious and ready to succeed. So, despite the difficulty of my predicament, one thing I knew was that I had made the right choice to flee.

I won’t go into detail on how I crossed the border into the UK, but it is a treacherous journey. It has been well documented in recent years how migrants have died jumping on and off moving lorries or concealing themselves in the axles under the vehicle.

In the UK, I applied to the Home Office for asylum and was granted refugee status with leave to remain for five years. I was also shocked to see how diverse the UK is.

Coming from a country where everyone speaks the same language, eats the same food and has the same cultural background, it was initially overwhelming to see such a diverse society.

Past the initial shock, I had a hard time finding a job. Having a degree from back home was almost worthless and professional careers advice was not readily available. The Job Centre pushed me to apply for whatever was available, despite the fact nothing suited my skills, so I began doing low paid work in a biscuit factory picking and packing stock.

Around Christmas time, I waited tables at Christmas parties.

Throughout this time I continued to look for ways to joined the skilled workforce. Then, living in Leeds, I went to the central library and, not knowing what Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) was, I began searching for the emails of admission offices and sending out speculative letters. After several failed attempts, I got a response from Manchester and Bradford University inviting me to their open days, where they explained how the UCAS process works.

I joined Bradford University in September 2007, starting my Bachelor degree in Electronic, Telecommunications and Internet Engineering. A week into the course, I realised that it was too basic compared to what I had already studied. I asked to start on the second year and my request was approved. Two years later, I finished the BEng degree with first class honours and continued onto an MEng Masters degree, graduating in 2011.

Having completed three degrees at this point, you would think my struggles would be over, but with only a year left on my visa, I hit another setback. Employers were either reluctant or unable to offer a job without a guarantee that I could remain in the UK.

I put in an application for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) and went back to the biscuit factory while I waited to hear of my fate. I was eventually granted the ILR and set about the arduous task of redefining myself as a person.

I approached Transitions London, a company that supports refugees by giving them training with CVs, cover letter writing and interview techniques.

They helped me figure out what employers are looking for and how to do well in face-to-face interactions and over the phone.

Equipped with the right skills, I now began the herculean task of passing through the graduate scheme application processes of many of the UK’s big companies. These are longwinded and often very competitive, requiring graduates to pass through countless hurdles such as online language tests, telephone interviews, multi-day assessments, face-to-face interviews, presentations and group activities.

Once I’d completed a few of these, I began to receive offers and was ultimately accepted to join National Grid. I joined the company in September 2012 as a graduate and carried out three six-month rotations in areas such as Capital Delivery, Asset Management and the Electricity System Operator.

In these roles, I covered everything from supporting the delivery of construction designs as a development engineer, to working on the outage planning team, where I worked as a power system engineer, delivering scheduled outages for maintenance and capital investments.

As the electricity system operator for Great Britain, National Grid ESO moves electricity safely, reliably and efficiently through the system, to ensure homes and businesses have the power they need whenever it’s needed.

It might sound simple, but it’s a complicated job to deliver electricity every single minute of every single day, making sure that demand and supply are always balanced.

In April 2017, after three years as an outage planning engineer, I moved onto the generator compliance team and this is where I currently work as a senior compliance engineer. My day to day role involves supporting generators through the compliance process by facilitating their connection to the transmission network.

I’m currently working on my dissertation for a Master’s degree in Power Systems Engineering from the University of Manchester. I’m doing this part-time alongside work commitments. In January this year I also became a chartered engineer, awarded by the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

I have a wife and two children, and after over a decade of struggle, I finally feel at home, in a workplace that actively promotes diversity and inclusivity. To play my part in helping the community, I recently set up an organisation that supports highly skilled refugees to join the skilled work force in the UK.

It’s called the Professional Immigrants Transition Platform and helps refugees who are struggling to get a job in the UK.

They may typically have a degree from back home, so we help them to pursue further education where necessary and build interview and CV skills. Beyond this, I want to motivate them and give them hope that one day they will find a job.

We also want to raise awareness with employers that refugees have international skills and knowledge with an ambition to be successful in life.

This is an unexplored pool of expertise that employers could use as another avenue of recruitment. PEI

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