The UK wind energy business – interview in The Engineer

As winter finally arrives, it is easy to see the power of the winds that surround our island, but how well is the UK set up to take advantage of them? In an interview in The Engineer online magazine, Julian Brown, Areva’s new UK director, gives a detailed analysis of what a wind energy industry needs and how the UK compares.

Areva is a French energy firm better known for its involvement in the nuclear industry, but now involved in developing wind power in the UK. Julian describes what a country needs to do to succeed from developing a supply chain to producing in volume. There are also many elements of the technology that need development and distribution issues to be addressed. This will mean skills such as renewable energy engineering expertise and offshore project management. For more of this detailed interview and assessment go to http://www.theengineer.co.uk/in-depth/interviews/arevas-uk-director-julian-brown/1011204.article

Painting the Forth Bridge is over but engineering work continues

There was much competition for the best headline at the news that the painting of the Forth Bridge was finally completed; The Scotsman went with “Forth Wonder of the world finished.” On such a huge piece of civil engineering, the bridge, built nearly 130 years ago, is still the subject of a huge range of maintenance, engineering analysis and monitoring projects keeping structural engineers busy for years to come.

For an intriguing portrait of the bridge from the civil and mechanical engineering perspective, the Forth Road Bridge website has details of all the current capital projects being undertaken. There is also access to the relevant technical papers published in professional magazines and at conferences, potentially useful for other professional engineers involved in engineering and project management life on such a grand scale.

For more information take a look at the world of the Forth Bridge http://www.forthroadbridge.org/home

Engineering award for councils, universities and the motor industry in Birmingham and Coventry

A consortium including the councils and universities of Coventry and Birmingham and key names in the motor industry, such as Jaguar Land Rover and Mitsubishi Motors UK, were awarded a key engineering award at a ceremony last week.

In the Automotive Award section of The 2011 Engineer Technology & Innovation Awards, the consortium was awarded the prize for its work in running the U.K.’s largest trial of electric and ultra-low emission vehicles. Large quantities of qualitative and quantitative data are being collected to help plan future vehicles and systems in a 3 year project due to finish in 2012.

Other winners include the Cambridge Design Partnership in the Defence category for frontline medical equipment and EM Renewable in the Marine Category for their ‘Snapper’ device to be used in near and off-shore situations. Full details on all winners and their achievements can be seen in The Engineer magazine or online here www.theengineer.co.uk