Young professionals |
Meeting the Challenge of the Grey Tsunami
The Hydropower Foundation is offering new hope in the challenge of attracting younger professionals into the US industry. Linda Church Ciocci, the foundation’s Executive Director, explains how
Above: Linda Church Ciocci
ATTRACTING THE NEXT GENERATION hydro professional is not for the faint of heart. It is a unique challenge. Yet it is one of the greatest challenges before the hydropower industry both globally and within the US. Hydropower has a long history of providing clean and resilient electricity around the world. That history is also hydro’s downfall in that it is viewed as old technology with no future from a career standpoint. Breaking down that barrier is not easy. The Hydropower Foundation is working toward that end with a host of programs to elicit the interests of young professionals. And it is none too soon. With the staggering numbers of expected retirees in the not-too-distant future, preparing the next generation and tooling them with the right skill sets will ensure hydropower meets anticipated and growing needs as we transition to a clean energy grid. Our work to address this challenge is many faceted.
Below: The Hydro Foundation brought students to Rocky Reach Dam in Washington state for an intense week of hands- on problem-solving in 2019. Editorial (credit: Antone Abbott Jr /
Shutterstock.com)
We focus both at the university level and the trade schools. We also work closely with the US Department of Energy in a STEM program that ensures that there is plenty of access to curricula and general information on hydropower and career opportunities. That alone is not enough. We need to directly engage the students, their academic advisors, and professors. Our Think Tank programme does just that. So, when you hear the words “think tank,” what comes to mind?
Most might think about the US national policy think
tank groups like the Urban League or The Center for American Progress. Groups that focus on specific challenges and pursue policies for change. But the Hydro Think Thank is something quite different. A brainchild of the Foundation, its primary purpose is to expose students to the many career opportunities the hydropower industry offers. This exposure is accomplished through a unique experience that brings students together with industry to focus on real-world problems; and allows the students to work
together with industry members while they unleash their creativity and innovative thinking. These projects provide total immersion outside the academic world and give students and the industry a “test drive,” on whether a career in hydropower is the right fit. The Hydropower Foundation, a nonprofit
organisation, has a strong track record in working with the academic community and serving as a liaison between industry and academia. Industry members might remember the Foundation’s Research Awards programme that funded graduate student research on a host of topics with the support of a grant from the Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office. The programme was phenomenally successful and led to 75% of participating students going on to pursue jobs in hydropower. Through it, the Foundation built a strong network with a host of universities around the country. Today, it uses that network to steer more students toward hydropower.
Heart of the industry In 2018, the Foundation launched The Hydro Think
Tank to bring students directly into the heart of the hydro industry. Kenneth Odom, past president of the Hydropower Foundation’s Board of Directors and Principal Engineer for Southern Company, saw an opportunity to hold a competition to solve a problem occurring at Southern Company’s Logan Martin Dam in Alabama. Like many projects in the southeast, the Logan Martin Dam was dealing with a dissolved oxygen issue. “The Hydro Think Tank allowed us to spend some very meaningful time with top students from some of the universities in Alabama, teaching them about all the hydropower that’s right here in our state,” Odom said. And Southern got the benefit of the student’s out- of-the-box thinking. Twelve students were divided into four teams competing for prizes for the best solution. Dissolved oxygen becomes a problem after times of extreme rainfall, which had occurred on the upper Coosa River above Southern Company’s Logan-Martin Dam. Students were challenged to find an innovative way to increase and optimize dissolved oxygen levels. Each was asked to put themselves in the shoes of Southern Company’s dissolved oxygen expert and determine the best way to operate the plant’s aeration systems to remediate the high dissolved oxygen levels with minimal cost. To find a solution, students could use the plant’s blower and forebay diffuser systems to increase the dissolved oxygen
Left: Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River is the venue for the foundation’s Think Tank this summer
30 | June 2022 |
www.waterpowermagazine.com
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