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UTILITY WEEK | DECEMBER 2020 | 11 Voices of the Future Lessons from Covid From shis in energy demand to how we deal with vulnerable customers, Covid-19 has resulted in a number of big changes this year. We asked the YEP award winners what lessons they thought the sector should carry forward. Both Patel and Harvey-Cole pointed to the fact that the sector has been able to carry on working despite major disruption caused by the pandemic, and they point to a sense of an irreversible change taking place. "From a personal and professional point of view, we have defined new and exciting ways to try and carry on stuff that we weren't able to do but in a different way," says Patel. "The main point for me is to try and keep things as stable as possible. The energy sec- tor is a really important sector, we can't pack our bags and go home, we have to find inter- esting ways to try and keep things moving." Harvey-Cole says the sector's way of work- ing was thrown "completely out the window overnight" but adds that it has shown real resilience, dealing with the new way of work- ing very well. She says: "At National Grid we have been looking at ways and means to reduce travel times – bringing different people to site at the same time. We are looking at technolo- gies where we can do that virtually, so we haven't got people that need to come from different countries to look at different pieces of equipment. We'll have the technology where we can do that with someone just walking around with a camera. That's moved that forward a lot more quickly than we anticipated." Singh believes improvements in air quality will help shi attitudes on climate change, with more people recognising the need for urgency in tackling the issue. She says: "I think what we and customers all over the world have noticed is a remark- able improvement in air quality with the reduction in transport use. I think what this shows is the urgent need to address climate change, and while things might be a little slow right now, we need to keep our focus and working towards the decarbonisation of the energy and transport sectors." She adds: "The other lesson, and I think this is more of an opportunity, is to build back a diverse workforce. We have seen some groups more negatively impacted. Women in the workforce have been more negatively impacted, there has been research on that. Despite the horrors of the pandemic, we have this opportunity to pause and think, and when we start ramping things up again, we need to set up a system that is not only low carbon and more innovative, but also more diverse." Young and Williams also see opportuni- ties for the sector to build back better follow- ing the pandemic. Both believe the sector can unlock the talent of people up and down the country, as more opportunities to work from home present themselves. Young says: "There is a wealth of talent from young people scattered all around the country who maybe don't have the same advantages that some of us have had. I hope that we shi to not going back into the office, not to the old ways of working and also bring in more raw talent from different places. That wealth of new ideas, especially from millen- nials and Generation Z, could actually pro- vide some of the answers for how the sector can recover and grow from this." Williams points to the fact that three grad- uates have recently joined his team, with the process taking place entirely remotely. "I live in London, one of them lives in Glasgow and our HQ is in Warwick. The fact that we can actually onboard people remotely, build connections over technol- ogy and still deliver on our day-to-day jobs is fantastic and I think that's a big opportunity continued overleaf The Young Energy Professionals The Young Energy Professionals (YEP) awards are held annually by Energy UK and celebrate the outstanding contributions and achievements of those with less than 10 years' experience in the industry. Nearly 80 applications were received across four categories including a new one- off category for 2020 to reflect the sector's role in responding to the pandemic. The winners of YEP Awards 2020 are: • Rising Star: Rajan Patel, UK onshore project manager, Siemens Energy. • Outstanding Achievement in Responding to COVID-19: Gemma Harvey-Cole, project engineer, National Grid. • Diversity & Inclusion Focus: Rodney Williams, lead project manager, National Grid, and Matthew Young, product manager, Centrica (joint winners). • Young Energy Professional of the Year: Rubina Singh, lead e-mobility technologist, Centrica. Rajan Patel, UK onshore project manager, Siemens Energy Gemma Harvey-Cole, project engineer, National Grid. Rodney Williams, lead project manager, National Grid Matthew Young, product manager, Centrica Rubina Singh, lead e-mobility technologist, Centrica