Rhys Jones’ Post

After 9 months at Little Barford Power Station, I’ve finally seen her run. Following a catastrophic failure of our 400kV Steam Turbine Generator Transformer in July, I had the opportunity to be part of the recovery efforts to bring the site back online before the end of March. It’s been an incredible project with many complexities — one I’ve been involved in from the initial investigations through to energisation. Some personal highlights include: ·        Taking a key role of the auxiliary wiring for the new transformer — including power and control for the tapchanger and cooling systems, protection circuits, alarms and indications. This included helping develop and implement the modifications, designing the marshalling termination schedules and overseeing installation to ensure correct interfacing with the station’s control and protection systems ·        Carrying out an independent review of the transformer cooling settings and suggesting a revised control strategy aimed at improving long-term reliability ·        Taking a lead role in quality assurance throughout the rebuild — overseeing installation tasks, reviewing completed work, and ensuring high standards were consistently maintained Massive credit to the whole project team for managing such a complex and unexpected outage — all while keeping things professional, supportive, and enjoyable. I’ve learned a huge amount, had real responsibility, and worked alongside some brilliant engineers who know how to get the job done (and have a good laugh doing it). A genuinely career-defining project to be part of — and an unforgettable moment seeing Little Barford back online, powering the grid once again. #TeamRWE #RWEGeneration #MissionZero #Transformer #IndustrialPlacement #YearInIndustry #Energy #STEM