Data will play an indispensable role in balancing non-flexible sources of energy (unlike fossil power which is flexible) like Wind & Solar with market demands for power !
Sri Harsha Vemuri, our next pathbreaker, works as Forecast Systems Specialist at Enfor (Copenhagen), an organization that provides forecasting and optimization solutions for various stakeholders in the Energy sector.
Harsha talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about starting his career in Civil/Structural Engineering and pivoting to the field of Wind Energy after being exposed to fascinating academic literature in the field of renewables !
For students, a successful career is a result of trial and error, the more you experiment the better the chances of pursuing your dreams !
Harsha, Your background?
My family is from Tirupathi, I did my schooling and college at boarding schools in Chennai.
In school, I enjoyed Maths the most, as it came very naturally to me. I would attribute a lot of this to my fondness for logic and reasoning.
My family is involved in the construction Industry, I spent a good part of my vacations at construction sites. Considering my academic interests and my familiarity with the construction industry, I made an objective choice to pursue Civil Engineering.
What did you do for graduation/ post-graduation?
I pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and later followed it up with a masters in Structural Engineering from Colorado State University, USA.
This was my first experience living abroad in an unfamiliar environment. As a consequence, I made many new connections which brought fresh perspectives into my life. I crossed paths with individuals who were pursuing careers driven by their passions. As a result, this was a phase of significant personal growth, and a time of introspection about my values. I found that all things that gave me joy were connected with nature i.e. clean water bodies, fresh air, the wilderness etc.
I aspired to pursue a career that would enable me to have a positive impact on the environment. This led me to discover a new found interest in sustainability studies and renewable energy as these were some of the biggest conversations at that time.
My journey to educate myself further in the field of renewable energy drove me to enroll in another Master’s program with the Technical University of Denmark, this time specializing in Wind Energy.
Can you talk about some of the influences that led you to such an offbeat, unconventional, and unusual career?
There are two main factors that made me choose a career in Renewable Energy – I needed the output of my work to be something I cared for and I needed to enjoy the skills I apply.
I was exposed to academic literature as part of my curriculum at Colorado State University, which played a crucial role in shaping my understanding of my academic interests. My curiosity led me to a few papers in wind energy. I enjoyed reading these papers so much that I wanted to pivot my career in this direction.
It made me understand that I enjoyed reading academic literature and how it can be used when trying to understand/solve new problems. I took this approach to other problems in sustainability and renewable energy for example.
A significant part of literature I came across in Renewable Energy at that time was from the Technical University of Denmark. Hence, I applied to this University for a Master’s in Wind Energy.
How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted? Or how did you make a transition to a new career? Tell us about your career path
Having arrived in Denmark, I found it intimidating to build a career in a completely new environment where I did not have any professional or academic network. I believed that I could increase my chances of success by demonstrating my ability to apply my skills to solve real-world problems, hence I was a regular participant at a lot of hackathons during my tenure at the university.
The master’s program in Wind Energy is multi-disciplinary, and there are many directions it can go in. The main focus by choice can be for example: Mechanics and Aerodynamics, Materials, Testing/Measurements, Electrical Systems etc. Students can pick a core set of courses in one of these disciplines and have an option to add other courses that suite individual needs.
The core of my courses were in Mechanics and Aerodynamics, as this aligned with my educational background. I was proactive in identifying and picking courses that are complementary. One criteria for me was either to have more problem solving tools in my kit for example, courses in machine learning, timeseries handling etc. The other criteria was to expand my horizons in energy sector for example, courses on energy markets, optimizing energy systems etc.
My education was largely supported by my family, a privilege I am very self-aware about. I had a partial- scholarship from Climate-kic (see, https://www.climate-kic.org). I also held a few part-time jobs and student jobs to support my expenses, which have all had a role in shaping me as an adult.
Participating in hackathons was one of the best decisions I made for myself. Through these experiences, I developed into a well-rounded professional, effectively applying my skills/experiences to real life situations. More importantly, it taught me to productively collaborate with people from diverse educational backgrounds trying to achieve similar goals – the whole is greater than the sum of individual parts, after all.
How did you get your first break?
At one such hackathon, I met the founders of a start-up called Anemo Analytics that specialized in using wind turbine data to monitor the health of wind turbines. I would go on to work as a student researcher at this company.
The aim of my project was to prove the concept of identifying imbalances in wind turbine blade pitch using recorded data. Imbalance in blade pitch can cause abnormal loads on wind turbines there by reducing the life of wind turbines. Such imbalances can also mean inefficient production leading to reduced power output. At the end of my tenure, I handed the reports from my learning over to the company for further development of the product.
This introduced me to skills that used data to solve problems. I enjoyed the work as it felt like I was solving puzzles. I reflected on the skills I was lacking and went on to register for courses that would enhance my resourcefulness in similar positions.
As I approached the end of my Master’s program, I was well placed to take up a very fun Master’s project with Vattenfall on the topic ‘Performance monitoring of wind farms using real-time wind farm power curve’. I was blessed to have excellent mentors for this project who would later point me towards a job opening at Enfor.
What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?
Challenge 1
Putting my thoughts to action, I think this is by far the biggest challenge I face. I continue to get better at this, though I feel there is plenty of room for improvement. A couple of approaches I use now to overcome this are – 1. Breaking down my larger goals to smaller achievable goals; 2. Deliberately practicing this in all walks of my life.
Challenge 2:
Moving out of the country, I felt the need to improve my social/communication skills. I exercised these skills by getting involved in various volunteer programs. For example: I volunteered as a cultural mentor at Colorado State University where I led university orientation programs for large groups of students.
Challenge 3:
Coming into the master’s program I found myself lacking programming skills in comparison to my peers. This seemed like a basic skill for everyone with an engineering background, but something that I was somehow not exposed to during my curriculum in my Bachelor’s degree. I used various online courses to get better at this, so much so, that it ended up being a primary tool at my current job.
The lesson for me was that even though I found something very intimidating at first glance, I found it to be very easy once I began to learn by just doing / through hands-on experience.
Where do you work now? Tell us about your current role
I currently work as a Forecast System Specialist for a Danish firm called Enfor. Enfor provides forecasting and optimization solutions for various stakeholders in the Energy sector.
Renewable Power sources are considered non-flexible sources of energy unlike Fossil Power i.e., we can to a large extent control the output from a fossil power plant by increasing/decreasing fuel input, however when it comes to renewable sources such as solar or wind, we can only extract what is available from the weather on a given day (hence, the term non-flexible).
In order to meet power demand using Renewable Power, We need to know ahead of time how much Renewable Power will be generated. This information is used to plan for short comings in energy demand using other sources of energy such as hydropower, coal plants, gas plants etc.
There are many stakeholders in this situation. For example: Power plant owners need forecasting to know how much power they can produce so they can sell it in the market before it is produced, Grid operators need to know the renewables in the grid so they can maintain a balance between consumption/production, Energy traders use forecasting to gauge the supply/demand for a given day.
What are the skills required for your role? How did you acquire them?
The primary skills I need for my job are system knowledge of wind/solar power generators, familiarity with energy markets, good communication, ability to formulate problems and proficiency with statistics.
In my position, I would interact with various stakeholders in the energy sector that seek Enfor’s forecasting solutions. I would listen to understand how they would like to use Enfor’s services, which helps me formulate key design decisions while configuring forecasting models for their needs.
The forecasting industry is very competitive and fast evolving. The success of projects largely depends on how accurate we are. Hence, our team needs to constantly iterate our learnings and improve, to stay ahead of competition. The constant need to reflect on our process and improve is my favorite part of the job.
How does your work benefit society?
My job is part of an ecosystem that helps in energy transition from fossils to renewables. This is the contribution of my work to society.
Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you!
I feel one of the biggest challenges in this world is to bridge the gap between what exists as tech and what is actually used in the real world. This is especially true in the case of the Energy industry. The barriers could be due to numerous reasons, for example, the cost of adapting to a new process, complexity of implementation, myths and false expectations around a tech etc. Owing to this, even though many solutions to a sustainable planet do exist, they face trouble in implementation. I feel this is the area where I can contribute the best.
Tell us about some of your memorable projects
I led some projects for my company where we helped large Transmission System Operators and Asset owners use forecasting tools for the first time to integrate their fast growing Renewable Power assets (The names cannot be revealed). I found it rewarding to have contributed to breaking that barrier. I look back at it with pride, thinking about the positive impact this can have on the environment as these entities would be able to integrate more Renewable Energy into their grid.
Your advice to students based on your experience?
1. Keep looking for things that motivate you the most. Skills and experience will follow when you find your motivation, because you will find a way.
How do you find your motivation? – A lot of trial and error. Expose yourself to new people, new experiences, new challenges and learn more about yourself.
2. We always overestimate what we can do in the short term and underestimate what we can do in the long-term, paraphrasing Amit Verma (A writer I closely follow).
You need to find a way to move forward every day and when you look back you will be surprised how far you have come. It will give you strength to see how far you can go.
Future Plans?
My approach to my career/life in general has been to view the challenges in front of me, identify the challenges that excite me the most and grow from those challenges.
I am looking at the growing renewable energy space in India, and I am currently in a phase of identifying how my skills can be a valuable fit in this situation/ environment – I am in a phase of formulating problems.