Hey everyone,

Today is my last day of the Origin Energy vacation program! It has been quite a ride so far. I am based in the Brisbane office but I was fortunate enough to go out to site four times. Three times to Darling Downs Power Station near Dalby, South Queensland and I just got back from Mount Stuart Power Station in Townsville, North Queensland on Wednesday. It was amazing to see everything up close and personal, the most rewarding thing for me was that I really got to see the scale of everything, and let me say, everything was HUGE! It's easy seeing a generator on a single line diagram on paper, but being right next to a hydrogen cooled steam turbo-generator spinning at 3000 rpm was unlike anything I've ever experienced! I've added a few photos from my time out on site at Darling Downs Power Station, in the hopes that everyone can get a glimpse of my experiences for 3 months, but believe me, I don't think the photos do it justice.

This is me, next to the 345 MW turbine at Darling Downs Power Station. I actually got to see inside and see the shaft spinning at 3000 rpm.

Here I am (right down the bottom there) with the other Power Generation vacation student in front of the ACC system (air cooled condenser) I could actually walk comfortably underneath the ACC duct (the large tube). It was HUGE!

The whole program has been such a rewarding experience for me, I feel I have a much clearer knowledge of the industry now. I think the program has been great for upskilling myself and hopefully making me a much better engineer. The culture at Origin is great and I really feel apart of the team. Everyone is willing to answer all my questions (there were quite a few) and guide me through my tasks. I had a ball and hopefully I can return here next year!

Hey guys,

Just to add to my last update, I have officially only one more year to go until I hit the workforce as a fully fledged electrical engineer! I know, scary right? No, I've been pretty excited about this for the past 3 years.

I am currently in the third week of my second vacation, it is with Origin Energy in the Power Generation Department.

Origin Energy is Australiasia's leading integrated energy company. Integrated meaning that Origin is not just invested in one avenue of energy. It extends from the exploration of oil and gas in all parts of the world, to generation of electricity from coal seam gas (CSG) to gas and energy retail as well, it is a fully diversified energy company.

As I said before, I'm am currently a part of Origin's Power Generation team. Working mainly from their Brisbane office I largely focus on the support of the many power station sites. I'm working with Wayne Renwick, Origin's Production Capability Manager and am working with him to develope Origin's first training procedure to authorise non-electrical workers to perform isolations and switching on low volatage, and to an extent, high voltage equipment.

Besides this task, I'm am working quite closely with some of the electrical graduates and helping out with their tasks and learning a ridiculous amount from them. In these 3 weeks (2 if you discount the induction training week) I have learnt so much about how the power stations operate and the massive amount of work, from a lot of different people, that goes into producing electricity for Queensland and the rest of Australia. One project I am quite keen on at the moment is one of the sites in Origin's arsenal has had a massive electrical asset failure, I am working with the electrical reliability engineers and the graduates to develope a root cause analysis (which assets, why and what can be done to prevent it again) for the problem. It applies the knowledge that I have learnt from all my power courses at UQ, so it's extremely interesting and rewarding to be a part of this.

I am actually going out to Darling Downs Power Station, one of Origin's Power Stations, next week, so I will be sure to take a lot of pictures and tell you guys all about it.

Until then, signing off.

Adam

So here I am, half way through my third year which means I'm now a year and a half away from completing my degree and I can see the 'light at the end of the tunnel'. I'm now applying for my second round of vacation employment. My previous vacation employment with BMA at Goonyella-Riverside Mine in Moranbah was excellent and extremely rewarding as I've learnt so much about professional engineering and an have picked up invaluable practical knowledge to take away.

I hope to now expand my experience in Electrical Engineering, I've decided to apply for the power industry in Queensland this time, either in Generation, Transmission or Sub-Transmission. The reason I'm apply for the power sector is that over my second and third year I've developed a strong interest in Power Systems and have been doing advanced courses in this area, I have just completed ELEC4300 - Power System Analysis. During the Semester Professor Tapan Saha organised the ELEC 4300 class to do I site visit of Energex, South East Queensland's Sub-Transmission and Distribution providers. During this time we had a walk through tour of Newstead Farm Substation. Observing the gear that these guys deal with and what their engineers do every day really amazed me and an opportunity to work with them would be amazing. I will be applying for vacation work all this month.

As I have said in a previous post, I am for the second time a wing community leader at Emmanuel College and loving it. Before the start of the university semester I went through orientation week with this year's first years helping them with various things with uni, such as course sign on, where to buy textbooks etc. I had an absolute ball and have formed many new friendships.

Until I start it all again in roughly 3 weeks time, that's all from me!

Halfway through and a vacation employment opportunity of a lifetime!

Hey everyone,

A while since my last post, but here I am to give you the run down of the (sometimes crazy) events that have occured since I last wrote.

Well, I'm halfway through my degree! From the start of year I've always pictured breaking through the half way barrier and it feels awesome. Although saying goodbye to the guys I've spent this rollercoaster of a year living with in college, forming bonds that will last a life time, was one of the sadder moments of 2010. However, three months break from the hectic schedule of college and uni won't go too underappreciated!

Speaking of the holidays, I managed to get Vacation Employment with coal mining giants BMA (BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance) and am currently working in the Goonyella-Riverside mine near Moranbah in Central Queensland. The experience has been amazing, it's been impossible NOT to learn, and getting this hands on practical view of my degree has been invaluable.

The first couple of weeks were full with... less than stimulating inductions and fimiliarisations but since then I've got up close and personal with everything electrical in the minesite. It's great because a mine has everything that's relevant to electrical engineering - from 11 kV distance transmission to the smallest 4-20mA loop powered circuits as well as the programming that is involved with the PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) that keeps the mine running electromechanically.

I've had quite a few projects while out here, however my main one would be the restoration/replacement project of all the UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supplies, basically backup generators) that have been malfunctioning for quite a while and working on a new maintainence plan for them. I've had to talk to, and work things out with consultancy engineering companies, the senior electrical engineer at the Goonyella site and the Electricians that will be installing the backup power supplies to my designs that I have given them. It's been crazy fun and the knowledge that I have done something really useful for this huge company and that the standards that I employ will last long after I leave, is priceless.

Only another 4 weeks here before my work with BMA ends and I go back to being a normal teenager enjoying some (much desevered :P) holidays before starting my third year back at uni. It's also my third year back at Emmanuel College in which I am, for the second time, going to be a student leader. That all starts on the 14th of February, I will be sure to keep you posted.

Well, I best be getting back to my projects, I'll be sure to write again soon, until then this is goodbye from me, wishing you a happy new year.

Cheers!

Adam.

So, second year uni with one semester down. Well I quickly found out that second year was quite a leap from the work load in first year. Lecturers giving us less whilst expecting more from us. Add to this the fact that I was appointed Wing Community Leader at my College, and needless to say it was an intense semester.

The courses I have undertaken this semester have all been challenging but rewarding. One of these, Team Project 1, was quite time consuming but I really enjoyed the experience it gave me and I am sure I can apply what I have leaned to future practical projects.

One highlight this semester was an opportunity to attend the UQ Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology Scholarship Student Seminar. The guest speaker for this event was Professor John Belcher, Professor of Physics at MIT. His presentation was excellent and gave me an insight into his areas of interest, namely space plasma physics. Professor Belcher was the principal investigator on the Voyager Plasma Science Experiment and is now co-investigator on the Plasma Science Experiment on board the Voyager Interstellar Mission.

Being a QRC scholarship student ambassador gives me opportunities to interact with other young people and promote the resources sector. In June I met with some BMA work experience high school students to talk about doing engineering at UQ. I told them what I have experienced so far in my time at uni, and what they may expect when they begin their university studies.

I have also started to apply for vacation work. Hopefully I will be successful as I feel this will give me real life experience and an insight into professional engineering.

I'll try to start making regular posts here to let everyone know what's happening and how things change as I progress through my university life

Until then "You stay classy San Diego"