Achieving Ireland's ambitious decarbonisation goals and meeting climate action targets requires massive investment and innovative engineering solutions across the energy sector. This is compounded by the increasing digitisation of our infrastructure and the need to deliver reliable power to a growing economy.
This conversation explores the strategic response to the climate and energy crisis, examining the future makeup of the Irish power system, the explosive growth of solar power, and how data and artificial intelligence are revolutionising asset management. We also look at the evolving role of engineers, the importance of complementary commercial skills, and how to advance your career in the sector.
Joining the discussion is Siobhán McHugh, Director and the Energy and Utilities Consulting Lead at PwC Ireland, and the current Chairperson of the Energy, Environment and Climate Action Division at Engineers Ireland. Her experience spans regulation, grid operation, and strategic consulting.
THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT
● Career progression and diverse energy roles
● AI data transforming asset management
● Solar generation exceeded cost projections
● Infrastructure delivery policy advocacy
● Human skills complement technical expertise
GUEST DETAILS
Siobhán McHugh is a Director and the Energy and Utilities Consulting Lead at PwC Ireland, where she advises clients in the electricity, water, and gas sectors on large-scale digital and energy transformation projects. Her expertise draws heavily on her deep operational background from EirGrid and a regulatory background from the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), giving her a rare whole-system view of the industry. She also serves as the current Chairperson of the Energy, Environment and Climate Action Division at Engineers Ireland.
Connect with Siobhán on LinkedIn
QUOTES
● "So I'd say a lot of the challenges probably have a hidden positive in them, in that it's an advancement in technology, but it's just about figuring it out."
● "You're always working with people, and so that is the piece of experience. I think you need to help build your younger colleagues."
● "If I think of solar energy when we would have been modelling it, it was completely different cost basis, solar was quite expensive. That cost has come down now."
TRANSCRIPTION
For your convenience, here is an AI transcription:
Dusty Rhodes 0:02
Right now, on AMPLIFIED,
Siobhán McHugh 0:04
A lot of our clients are engineers. You know, these are engineering-driven companies. They obviously have lots of skill sets. And I find having that engineering background and that technical knowledge, and again, a bit of a geeky mindset into how I look at things, is a real benefit.
Dusty Rhodes 0:29
Hi there. My name is Dusty Rhodes, and you're welcome to AMPLIFIED, the Engineers Journal Podcast. Today, we're looking at energy policy and infrastructure development from an engineering point of view. Our guest is an engineer who is driving the sector's strategic response to energy and the climate crisis, and also acts as the current Chairperson of the Energy, Environment and Climate Action Division at Engineers Ireland. It's a pleasure to welcome from PwC Ireland, Director Energy and Utilities, Siobhán McHugh, how are you?
Siobhán McHugh 0:56
Hi, Dusty. I'm great, great. Great to be with you today.
Dusty Rhodes 1:00
So let me start off and ask you what attracted you to this wonderful career of engineering when you were a wee young Siobhán?
Siobhán McHugh 1:08
Well, I'll tell you what. I suppose I was always a little bit scientifically minded, mathematically minded. I think that's probably a very, a very common theme for engineers and in school, would have done quite a bit of science subjects, you know, for my even cert. And we had a really great career guidance counsellor. I went to an all girls school in East Galway, and we had a really great career guidance counsellor who brought in lots of different people from lots of professions to talk to us over, you know, various periods of time. And we had a visit from people who were working in engineering. So my first exposure to, what was it even? What even was an engineer as a job? I didn't really, I didn't really understand it was through that process in school, which was really, really excellent. So got me thinking a little bit, what did I want to do? I was toying with doing science and things like that. And then discovered a bit more, did a bit more research. Did all the classic college open days that you go around to and you chat to people. And I really got to like the idea of engineering, so I put it down on the CAO form, and then I went on to study industrial engineering in then named NUI Galway, now University of Galway.
Dusty Rhodes 2:15
Cool, Siobhán, you've spent a lot of your engineering career with EirGrid, or a significant chunk of it, I should say, what does an engineering role at EirGrid involve? What were you doing?
Siobhán McHugh 2:25
There huge diversity of things. So yeah, quite early in my career, I worked in first in industry, then I worked in the regulator crew, and then very interested in energy and energy policy, and went to work in EirGrid, and spent many years there, across a couple of different teams. Huge diversity of roles. If you talk to someone in EirGrid, they will be involved in everything from, literally, the control room, power system operation, managing the power system, minute to minute, doing all of that really complex work, all the planning around it, to the long-term grid planning. So looking at, you know, 1015, 20 years in the future. So they cover the whole spectrum of looking at transmission system, which is kind of like the motorway or the highways of our electricity system. They look at that from the operating it right here and now into the future planning, and they've also now started to work on offshore grid as well. So huge diversity of roles there. You could be involved in highly technical electrical engineering roles, very detailed, maybe power system studies, using different models to simulate what's going to happen under different conditions in the power system, and then lots of different peripheral roles as well.
Dusty Rhodes 3:32
Can you give me an example of one of those scenarios that you would have run?
Siobhán McHugh 3:35
So I used to do quite a bit of looking at the future makeup of the power system. So taking, you know, what's there today in terms of like, mix of generation, how much our demand is, and building out scenarios into the future. So how much wind would we build? How many more power plants would there be? Would we have more interconnectors to other markets? And I can remember at one point doing a model that that looked as far forward as 2020, and then we extended it to 2025, so that's given a little bit of the timing. So we there would always be, I suppose, that future-looking focus, and you're looking at, you know, what are the external trends going on in the world, around technology that produces electricity, around how networks are evolving? What's the economic factors in Ireland, about how the demand is going to grow, what other power sources there will be. So really kind of building that picture up, building some models around it, and then looking at a whole load of scenarios. So really fascinating work, because you have to look at technology, you have to look at policy, what's happening in the world outside as well.
Dusty Rhodes 4:35
You're in a unique position now, after saying that way, you can look at before and after, because you were doing all these studies as far as 2025 now here we are in 2025 Can you think of anything in your mind where you were kind of projecting way back when, and now you're at the reality, how close or how far off were the predictions?
Siobhán McHugh 4:54
It'd be so interesting to go back in detail like I can remember at the time you. Looking at the Irish power system, where there was a certain amount of wind generation built. And so you're projecting into the future how many more megawatts or gigawatts of wind are going to be there, how much more solar is going to be there? So if I think of something like solar energy at the time when we would have been modelling it, it was completely different cost basis, that solar was quite expensive. The technology was just evolving. That cost has come down now, and the cost of energy has kind of met it a little bit. So if you look at maybe where solar generation exists on our power system today, and I just take that as an example, that sticks in my mind a little bit, I think it's probably far more than we would have anticipated because of those cost elements. But as I said, you're always looking at the technical and the economic, both of those are kind of evolving at the same time. So when the costs change, suddenly something is more attractive. People start to build it. There's a place in the market. So definitely solar, I would say, if you went back and forensically examined the work we did then, based on the costs we had at the time, we wouldn't have predicted that solar will be so prevalent, but look at where the place is now and in the market, and how it's grown, you know.
Dusty Rhodes 6:05
So do you find the key factor there was the economics of it?
Siobhán McHugh 6:09
A lot of it is, yeah, you know, it's around the cost to manufacture the different equipment, and also the relative cost of maybe the components in that, some of that will be around minerals and metals and and things that are available. And also the technology evolves when people get smarter at how they actually manufacture the devices themselves. You know, that evolves. The costs come down. This competition globally, around again, engineers who are designing these things and making them more efficient as well. So that's a huge factor.
Dusty Rhodes 6:37
Absolutely, yeah, when you are kind of getting into that, because there's a world of difference between, you know, studying at college and then getting into the real world, but you would have picked up a load of new habits thinking about system operations. Yeah, is there a particular habit that you picked up then that you still carry with you today?
Siobhán McHugh 6:52
I this is a very energy nerd confession, and I know I'm not alone. You know, when you go actually, maybe two things dusty, I'm going to reveal, I'm going to reveal two things without myself. About myself. The one is, you know, day to day in our lives, we just we go about our day to day business, right? We're in our homes, we're in our place to work, we're meeting our families friends, and we don't really think about what's supplying the power you know, you don't think about how you plug things in, you use your devices. You might sit into your car, you're on public transport, you're on since using a fuel, you're not really thinking about what's underneath, you know, and how, how it, how it's kind of propelling you or getting you about your day. But from working in that environment, I can absolutely say, like now I do look at things differently. I think about what the weather's like outside. Is the wind blowing? Is it a very cold day? You know? I will go, I log on to some of the dashboards you can get online and see, like, what generation is out there. So, and I know I'm not alone. People in the sector will do that as well. They think, oh, you know, it's quite a cold day and the wind looks low. I bet there's lots of, you know, different plants running about, you know. Or if you're looking at a windy day, think, Oh, I wonder, is there a system record I might just log on and see, like, what the what the megawatt output is today. So there's definitely a habit that you get from knowing how all of that minute to minute operation works as well. And the second one I'll tell you, I know this is definitely something common to people who work in energy. When you go on holidays, you start looking around at all the different electricity infrastructure. So you'll be standing in a beautiful place, you know, on a beach, and you look around, you think, I wonder, Is that a 220 kV line over there? I want all the towers look a bit different. And I've, I've personally talked to people, and we will compare notes of how we took photographs of the different infrastructure. And look, this is what it looks like in Italy or in Thailand or, you know. So you definitely look at the world a bit differently in terms of all those things that are kind of powering or kind of facilitating our day, that are really happening very quietly and silently in the background. You know,
Dusty Rhodes 8:56
Siobhán, you've seen lots of different sides and great sides of the energy business. So you said you were with the Commission for Energy Regulation. You've done some time with air grid. There's been others in there. Then you went to, in my head, the big accountancy firm. So you were doing some work with EY. You're currently with PwC. To me, they're number crunchers. How does what you're doing now relate to engineering?
Siobhán McHugh 9:16
It does, I suppose. Look, those are what those firms are known for, isn't it, you know, the big four, and we very proudly, you know, financial and accounting people, tax people, and I've so many colleagues that work in that area. I work in the consulting side. So we would work in kind of business, consulting and advice to clients. So in that side of the business, which does, again, include finance professionals, absolutely, as well. But we would have a huge diversity of skill sets. You know, we've everyone from people looking at technology and data cyber security, people who work in strategy and strategy development, people who are experts in regulation, and basically everything with a bit of a business transformation or business improvement lens. So a huge diverse. City of backgrounds and there. So we do have quite a few engineers, scientists, you know, other sectors, we'd have a broad diversity of professions and experiences as well. And I find, because I'm focused very much on energy and utility, a lot of our clients are engineers. You know, these are engineering driven companies. They obviously have lots of skill sets in them as well, but you really kind of speak the language of your clients at times, when you've had that experience, you've worked maybe on similar projects in previous organisations. So it's bringing kind of a wealth of experience. And I find having that engineering background and that technical knowledge, and again, a bit of a geeky mindset into how I look at things, is a real benefit in there as well.
Dusty Rhodes 10:44
So if I have this right, engineering firms who are thinking about how the world is transforming and what they need to do next, will come to somebody like yourself for your opinion, yeah.
Siobhán McHugh 10:53
So we would work with clients on lots of different types of projects, absolutely, yeah. And sometimes working hand in hand with them to deliver new things as well, you know.
Dusty Rhodes 11:01
So can you give me an example, then, of some challenges that you would have seen across maybe two or three or all clients?
Siobhán McHugh 11:05
I think, one that's probably, again, quite a topical one clients are looking at, as I said, you know, a lot of the companies and utilities take that really long timeframe, look at, you know, what they have to deliver for the needs of us as citizens in the country over maybe 510, 20 years, and they're looking at, you know, how do they deliver? And one key thing at the moment is we've had such an explosion in the use of technology, of data in businesses. So these are organisations that might have a huge amount of legacy data about their assets, their systems, all of those hundreds of kilometres of pipes, wires, cables, all the things that are out there, you know, and historically, those might have been kept in different sources in the business. Now, with the exposure of what you can do with data, the insights you can get on that, there's a huge amount can be gained from thinking about, well, you know, how well we know our assets, what more intelligence can we apply to that? For example, you know as one so engineers are always trying to solve problem, but I think technology is helping now do an awful lot more with that data than might session organisations help people who are doing that problem solving and that really high level thinking actually harness more insights from their own business, their own assets, things like that. That's definitely one we see with clients at the moment. A lot of the question is, how do we use data and AI better and responsibly and more effectively in our business?
Dusty Rhodes 12:32
So that's one we'd we'd see quite a lot of at the moment, I think our relationship with AI is, in some ways, I'm thinking it's developing and maturing, but we've only really had it for three, four years in the general population. Realistically, it probably is very, very new. Where do you think AI is playing the role you're looking into the future? Let's let's do, let's go as far ahead as 2030, where do you think we'll be using AI? How sophisticated will it have become?
Siobhán McHugh 12:56
I think there's huge potential, particularly for engineers, right? So you think of again, very data driven profession. We're very oriented around, how can we look at pattern? How can we solve problems? How can we design into the future? Do we make something better, more efficient? And there's a huge amount you can do there with data. So I think AI and we're seeing good use cases of this at the moment, helping it do analysis on not just things like, predictably, how long does an asset last, or how long, you know what the typical life cycle, but actually very, very precise things on particular assets. How is this asset behaved? What can I predict about when it might have a failure, when it needs maintenance, when I might need to replace it or upgrade it? You know, so engineers always apply those kind of predictive type models. Now we can actually use kind of projections forward, based on AI and based on experience, and put far more intelligence into that. But again, a lot of the intelligence that's coming from the engineers, technical people as well. So it's giving you this kind of computational capability, but you always do need, what we say, the human in the loop as well. So right now, we'd see lots of that kind of things that we might have built up as models that took an awful lot of time. And I think of the modelling I would have done in the past, you're building your data sets, you're sourcing it all, AI, can probably give you an awful lot more of a diversity of data and sources, again, that you would verify. But the capability to get so much more into a process and apply more intelligence to it, maybe spend more time solving some of those more difficult problems. The other thing I'd say is probably more routine tasks that you can repeatably create or execute. There's definitely a role for AI there in, you know, taking some of the more mundane, the more repetitive things out of your day to day, and giving you more time to to focus on the kind of higher value or more more intellectual tasks. What I would say is it's evolving, right? So I think even in a year's time, we will see so much more use in generally across industries, and particularly probably in energy and utilities as well. So people are. Learning people are, I would say all of our clients are doing this in some form or another. They're doing it in a kind of a safe and measured way in their organisations. But the potential is huge. Without a doubt, absolutely,
Dusty Rhodes 15:12
you're in a fascinating area of the business, and you've gone very, very high. And I want to ask you, kind of about how you kind of got up the ladder, what your journey was like, and maybe get some tips for you about that. For people who want to people who want to advance their careers. But first, can we have a look at the kind of the bigger energy picture? Just get your thoughts on that. And I'm thinking, from your point of view, do you see big shifts coming in the sector, which, at the moment, engineers are underestimating?
Siobhán McHugh 15:39
Good question. Yeah, I suppose, like a lot of discussions lately at various events and forums. And we're a very talkative group in engineers Ireland, so there's lots of interaction between between colleagues and, you know, sharing experiences and things like that. I would say the bigger energy picture is probably the challenges we have around energy transition, meeting our decarbonisation targets. You know, Ireland has set quite ambitious goals around that, and so everyone is kind of focused on, how do we get there? And, you know, engineers love to solve a problem, so we want to go do the thing, solve the problem, and achieve the results. I would say some of the challenges are coming from the fact that we're operating in a global economy, in a global market where we're competing for technical skills. We're competing for the supply chain and components to build and to manufacture some of the things that we need in energy transition we're looking at, you know, other markets are all moving in the same direction we are. So I'd say some of the, some of the pain points, certainly, that I've heard lately actually quite around skilled people, people with technical skills, engineering skills, different types of technologies that are operating now that maybe, you know, 510, years ago, back when I was doing my future models weren't prevalent. So people have new skill sets to get a new types of technology and new aspects of this actor as well. And again, the use of AI and data things that we, you know, training as engineers would have been used to, using simulation models and computerised models of like things. But that whole world has changed. You talk to someone who's come out of college now, and their digital literacy and their comfort with data is just, it's incredible, it's wonderful to see, but again, it's trying to match that to how we're moving forward. So I'd say a lot of the challenges are probably have a hidden positive in them, in that it's an advancement in technology, but it's just around figuring out, how do we best utilise that, and how do we bring it forward as well.
Dusty Rhodes 17:35
Do you find with kind of graduates coming out of college now that there's maybe a bit of an over reliance on digital and they're not using their brains as much as they could.
Siobhán McHugh 17:43
I think it's probably a balance. So I would look to some of my kind of more recently qualified colleagues, without a doubt, and I go to them, I'm now that person in the office that says, Can you show me how to do that? Because you honestly like, go talk to your someone who's better versed. Go talk to one of those colleagues, and they will blow your mind with how well they explain it and how helpful they are, you know. So I'm definitely a leverage, leverage. Your network are all around you. But I would say probably the thing, as you say, the human in the loop will be it, from any perspective, is around we are always doing business with people. You're always working with people, and so that is the piece of experience. I think you need to help build in your younger colleagues. Because no matter how technical the problem and we do, we deal with technical things all day long as engineers or finance people or be whatever profession, you're always ultimately working with a group of people you're working with, you know, different opinions with how you might proceed on something, what your options are. And I think in many ways, engineers are kind of natural collaborators anyway, right? Because we're very numerical and we're very analytical, but we're always part of a team, and you're always trying to create something, hand it over to someone, someone else is going to use the thing you did. You did? You have to communicate really well. And I think that's probably the thing to help bring into, you know, with your younger colleagues and people kind of coming into the workplace, is, how do we communicate with clients, stakeholders, your own colleagues? And it's definitely something, you know, just, I suppose, to bring up the obvious. Like a lot of people completed their education through covid, and completed their degrees through covid, and such a challenging time for them in how they interacted with their own classmates and with education and things like that. So you definitely think, you know, I think back to doing my group projects in college and getting real hands on experience. Some people had a very different experience. So I think now, coming into the workplace, we're very focused on, let's make sure that people feel very included and welcome and part of a team, part of an ecosystem, you know, have the availability to reach out to different colleagues of different levels, get their experience. So like, I think that's a really important one is, you know. No matter how technologically advanced we become, and believe me, we are, and I definitely see it. I feel, I feel like the laggard now compared to my younger colleagues. But it's around kind of it was demonstrating and have supporting people to build those kind of people skills as well. I think it's really, really important.
Dusty Rhodes 20:17
We talk quite a bit about wind and solar and all of those kind of energies. Do you think that there might be another emerging energy which is going to help reshape the Irish grid, or are we sticking with wind and solar?
Siobhán McHugh 20:29
I suppose. Look, I'm gonna, I'll be a typical, what would I say typical person in the sector? Would you say depends on what time frame we look at. It depends on the cost and all the you know, all those caveats, right? But I would say for sure, if you look at, you know, and think very much about, like, energy as a whole, and then within that, probably electricity, because we're kind of driving towards electrification, but we know we're obviously fueling things from a whole lot of different perspectives, be they different kinds of biofuels or gases and things like that. If we look at the electricity sector, I would say, like we are very much on a transition path where a huge amount of the decarbonised energy we're going to get into the future, when you project it forward, is going to come from things like wind and like solar, and be that onshore wind, We've obviously had new auctions recently by the developed offshore wind, as well as a resource. And I suppose that comes from looking at where is the potential to produce power that we need to fuel our society, fuel our economy, and what are the relative economics and kind of technical maturity of it. So we're definitely seeing that kind of bear fruit. As I said, you know, if you look over time at how the power system has evolved, now we still have a huge need, and we and we will for quite a while, because we're going through an energy transition, which is, you know, movement across how we kind of feel ourselves. There's definitely a need for molecules in there, primarily, probably gas. At the moment, I'm looking at options around how that might become, you know, greener or less, less carbon intensive, depending on how it's produced. There's other technology types in there, like I would look at things that I've worked on in my career as well. We talk about storage technologies. Battery storage operates there, but there's other forms of storage as well. So how do you kind of time shift what you produce versus what you use? And that's a really key balancing element in there. And I also worked in an industry role around demand response. So that is, how do businesses and large users and eventually, kind of us in our homes. How do we shift our usage of power, or of, you know, processes behind what's happening in your own site or your own industrial area, and how does that help the power system? So there's kind of, I suppose it's like a big jigsaw puzzle. There's a mix of things that will be in there. There's always talk of new technologies. And, you know, when you, when you project it forward, and you probably think, how have those evolved? There will be things that became more technically mature, became a little bit cheaper to produce. Maybe there was a kind of a prohibitive cost involved. But, you know, we might find, again, technical ways around that. But I would say for the kind of the major term those are, they probably the decarbonized sources that will feature a lot in our power system. And then there's other technologies needed to help balance that around, you know, managing our voltage, our frequency, some of the technical aspects of the power system as well. So there's probably a mix, and that mix is evolving as we go, you know, into the future.
Dusty Rhodes 23:17
Let's talk about new technologies and regulation, because you've seen both sides of the sector. New Tech just wants to go into areas where there are no rules, but it can very much get bogged down with regulations because they're not keeping up with the rules for the new tech. Do you think that that contradiction, if you like, is harming the investment, because it's huge investment that needs to go into it.
Siobhán McHugh 23:38
So I suppose if you talk to anyone who's looking to invest in the energy sector or look into and I suppose I'm thinking from the perspective of maybe how we produce power, how we use it, things like that, like there's, there's a lot of other technologies you can use around, you know, efficiency and usage and different things. There's usually quite a, I suppose, a bit of a proven path is that you need the market to exist for the thing you're selling. So usually in power systems, and again, I'm probably leading electricity a little bit because it's more an area of familiarity for me. But you know, there's market is there for how much we will use into the future, and how we feel that, and the technology really just needs to prove that it's capable and competent, versus our kind of technical grid rules as to how to do that. But what it might mean is, you know, I'm coming from maybe a different technology background. If I'm an investor, or I'm someone looking to invest in the bear market, and I will know the costs involved in, typically, maybe developing a site, putting assets there, connecting to the network, all those kind of things, if we think of like physical development of assets and then, and then production of power. And what I'm going to be looking at is, what are my market signals into the future for how I'm going to be paid? And it's that balance of what's it going to cost me and on my investment timeline. And, you know, am I relatively more expensive or cheaper than someone else? And then what is the market going to need? So. Lot of kind of, you know, investment signal. It really goes down to how our markets are defined, and that comes into, you know, what's the need on the power system? So people like air, grid, ESP, networks feeding it, what do, you know, what are the needs, or what are the types of services needed, and what's an investment return on some of those? So some of them will be at the wholesale market, and that's the rules are defined by the regulator, and others are kind of more defined services and products where maybe the market doesn't exist yet. So I'm looking to those who might pay me in the future for a certain type of technology or a certain type of service. I'll give them, but I need that signal to come in. So there's really, I suppose there's a discourse always going on between system needs future, balance of what the cost is going to be of providing those services versus, you know, ultimately, when we think about it, it's connecting our homes, our communities, fueling them businesses, giving us, you know, the ability to kind of go about our day to day lives. And in a world where we're becoming kind of increasingly digitised, increasingly reliant on technology. You look at that curve of you know that what we need to fuel and power things is definitely increasing, because that's how we do business, day to day, like you and I are talking on digital medium here. You know, all those kind of things need, need to be fueled and need to need to have energy generated somewhere in order for us to be able to do our work. You know,
Dusty Rhodes 26:19
Siobhán, you're Chair of the engineers Ireland, Energy, Environment and Climate Action division. What's the most important thing that committee's mind at the moment?
Siobhán McHugh 26:29
Great question. I suppose, look, we're very, I suppose, you know, connected to what's happening around the sector. So even recently, we met looking at new policies that are coming out. And from, you know, from you know, from an engineering perspective, what's our views on those, or how we might help to, I suppose, help Ireland achieve some of the objectives. So definitely, one that is probably on our agenda at the moment is around infrastructure delivery. Again, it impacts lots of sectors, transport, housing, energy, things like that. You know, very important that what is recommended from that expert group that's come out recently is enacted. So, you know, anyone working across the energy sector will be very interested in that and how it will be brought forward. But I would say probably the backdrop to an awful lot of that is around our own national policy and targets, you know, so around decarbonization, around our climate action plan. So I'd say we probably keep a very active scan at all times on what's happening in that policy space. What are we doing? What is Ireland's? You know, I suppose pathway forward an awful lot, because we come from a diversity of backgrounds. If you look at the division people involved in all sorts of aspects of Energy, Environment and Climate Action from different perspectives, different businesses. And through our careers, I've worked in many different things. So really, we're looking at putting that engineering perspective on to things. You know, what does it mean around delivery? How do you get things done in a policy environment? What should we be advocating for as professionals in the sector as well?
Dusty Rhodes 27:59
And can I ask what kind of action that you're able to take to actually make a change in the world?
Siobhán McHugh 28:03
So we do quite a lot of things. You know, engineers Ireland is a wonderful organisation in terms of connecting with people all across the profession and different backgrounds. As I say, energy, environment, climate action is one of the divisions we do. Quite regular CPD training and information for, you know, people within the sector who are members of engineers Ireland, so that might take the form of webinars, seminars in person, events, presentations of research happenings around the sector. And we run kind of annual focus, CPD days as well, where people get a chance to come in person to, you know, to participate in some discussions with panels, see some kind of presentations on where policy and where technology is going. So at the moment, we're in in the in the process of preparing for the next one, and also, I'd say, like as professions, our own day to day jobs, we would kind of advocate for that kind of professional approach and engineering approach to things. Are very mindful of, I suppose, the role, the key role that engineers play, not only in our own freshman but in collaborating with our colleagues across all sorts of disciplines and professional backgrounds as well. I'd say engineers Ireland as an organisation is very good at advocating from a policy perspective as well. So we would feed it in centrally into policy positions that will be put forward by the organisation, again, international discourse on different topics and bringing that engineering perspective from the profession as well.
Dusty Rhodes 29:25
Let's talk not about engineering, but about Siobhán McHugh, just for change, I believe you're an expert. I wanted to ask you about your own career, all right, because it's been very interesting. You've gone across various sectors, quite, quite different. What decisions have changed your career trajectory? Yeah.
Siobhán McHugh 29:45
So I suppose when I look back over kind of 20 odd, just over 20 years since even college, I've done a diversity of things, diversity of role, I would have worked in industry initially, as I talked about previously, worked in the commission for REG. Of utilities, moved into air grid, then into consulting world, back into industry, where I had a policy and regulation role, and now in my in my current role with PwC, I would say a lot of it is just taking opportunities that come up, you know. So looking at where is interesting things going on, where are there interesting projects? Where are people doing things that seem, you know, that they might be kind of intriguing or challenging to do, and a lot of that is really connecting with people, you know. So rather than maybe waiting for the interesting thing to come along, is going and making a connection with someone who's doing the doing the interesting work, finding out a little bit more about it, having a few discussions, making a connection with them. And I would definitely say, through my career, an awful lot of the thread has been maybe you know people that I've met professionally in different contexts, staying in touch, staying in discussion with them, you'll find Ireland is such a small place that actually another role comes up, or you move on to a new project, and you find, oh, actually, I know someone here. We worked together in the past, or we were involved in a group together in the past, you know? So I think that personal connection with people is really, really important. And the longer you go on in your career, you find, you know, you do tend to reconnect with people you might have seen in a while. It might be time has passed since you did a project together. You suddenly on a new initiative, and you think, oh, you know, there's someone I can go have a chat with and learn a bit more. So I think it's around staying connected, seeking out people to, you know, spend a bit of time with, have a coffee with. I think certainly you'd be surprised at how many senior people in different roles are so willing to give their time to you, to have a chat, to have a little discussion, to talk about some interesting things that are happening, just from a general kind of knowledge perspective, and building up your own capability. And I would say, also like, stay curious. Definitely something that I've always done is, and I talked about taking photos on holidays of electricity structure and things like that. But, you know, stay connected to what's happening in the news, what's happening in other places these days, like listening to lots of podcasts about what's going on in, you know, energy world and the wider kind of engineering sector, things like that. Going to events, connect with people. Go to, you know, the seminars, the event, the research things, and so many different activities we can do around our work and that are really rewarding and valuable, because you will meet people, you'll have interesting discussions, you'll learn something new, you'll feel a little bit kind of more energised or excited about the sector that you're working in, you know, whatever that sector might be. So for me, I think it's around, you know, connecting with people, having some good discussions, and then when something interesting comes up, you think, you know, actually, I know a little bit about that, or I think that would be a good idea, because I've got a bit of context on it, and not being afraid to take a new opportunity when it comes along.
Dusty Rhodes 32:51
You know, when you're talking to senior people, or people who are ahead of you in the career, they can be very giving to people who are behind them. Was there any good piece of advice that you would have got from a person ahead of you that helps steer you towards where you are today.
Siobhán McHugh 33:07
Sometimes it's where people you know, they might give you a compliment, or they might compliment some work you've done, or maybe whatever it might be, a presentation you've made, and sometimes it's nice to hear an external person say, Oh, you did a good job on that, you know, gives you confidence in something. So I think certainly, as a younger person in your career, it's nice sometimes to just get some little, small external validation that says that was a great presentation, or I found that interesting, or that was really good. And it helps you when you're thinking about, Oh, like, should I put my name in for this new project, or should I try and do this role? You think, hang on, you know, someone told me I'm good at this. I've got some, you know, built up my confidence in it. And I think we probably need to do that a lot for our junior colleagues, make sure you tell them that when they did a good job like make sure to just take a moment and let them know that as well, because it does help build their confidence. And they can see themselves doing then things aligned to that again, and they can kind of see where there might be a future path for them as well.
Dusty Rhodes 34:06
To wrap up today, Siobhán, can I ask you that, if you were actively engineering today, what would you focus on in the next, say, year, year and a half that would make yourself mission critical to your employer?
Siobhán McHugh 34:19
I do have to say it's probably a number of things. And look, you know, let people pick and choose as they want. Definitely, I think there's something around the complementary skills to engineering, so absolutely like maintaining your technical professional excellence as an engineer, but probably around understanding the commercial realities of whatever part of the sector you work in. It's definitely an added benefit to understand not only what are we doing or producing or what am I delivering, but where does it fit in the wider market or energy landscape or something like that. You know, because always when you're delivering a project, there will be commercial realities around it, so every technical project is. Some point in time becomes commercially oriented as well, be it, it has to be paid for. It has to be done efficiently. It has to run efficiently when it's in service, those kind of things. And I'd say probably the other one is around becoming more conversant with data and AI, and this is probably a device I'd give to myself at the moment, is just have an open mind and be learning. Stay connected to it. Go and ask your younger colleagues, as I frequently do around you know, how do these things work? How did you do that so quickly and efficiently? Tell me how I can embrace it as well. Because I feel like, you know, it's it's that world of technology in the workplace in general is moving. And don't be afraid of it. Just stay abreast of it and figure out how you can kind of learn in a very safe and kind of, I suppose, curious environment about about how you can upgrade your skills there as well. I feel like there's lots of resources for that, and definitely your younger colleagues or those around you who've got that kind of passion for it, are the people to tap into and to use their expertise as well.
Dusty Rhodes 36:01
Siobhán McHugh, Director and Energy and Utilities Consulting Lead at PWC. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Siobhán McHugh 36:05
Thank you so much Dusty
Dusty Rhodes 36:08
We hope you enjoyed our conversation today. If you know another engineer who would appreciate these insights, please do share this podcast with them. They can find it simply by searching for Engineers Ireland, wherever they listen to podcast. This episode is produced by dustpod.io for Engineers Ireland, for advanced episodes, more information on the latest trends in infrastructure or career development advice to find a wealth of resources on the website at engineersireland.ie. Until next time for myself. Dusty Rhodes, thank you for listening.