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For further details and to book your place, please visit the event website.
Please briefly explain your role, involvement, and experience within the power industry
Kusum Trikha (KT): In my current role, I am leading techno-commercial assessment of the major Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) Power Projects that will be deployed in the UK’s first for Track-1 clusters in the UK.
What are the top challenges facing your industry at present?
KT: Shortages of skills and labour would be one of the top challenges. One of the sensible approaches to overcome this shortage would be apprenticeship programs offered by companies in partnership with universities. Government is looking forward for ways how best green skills and jobs could be developed through deployment of CCUS clusters in the UK.
How would you say your industry has evolved over the past five years?
KT: Sustainability in Design has evolved massively in past five years. We see far more major infrastructure projects in the UK driven towards meeting their sustainability commitments through their early design choices and construction practices.
What developments are going on in your industry that may have an impact on future approaches to power plant operations and the wider power industry?
KT: We can clearly see a shift in power industry construction practices where contractors are opting for modular design in comparison to the conventional stick-built practices. This practice offers better deliverability of the project in terms of time and quality management.
Another development is in the field of machine learning and AI. It can help us manage labour shortage through optimisation of labour and machinery across the project schedule.
Why is it important for operations and maintenance engineers to come together at this event?
KT: Events like these offer us chance to share lessons learnt during operations and maintenance. It is important to recognise considerations of operators and maintenance engineers in early stages of design.
Why is it important to address operations safety and reliability concerns in a forum such as this?
KT: It is important to discuss safety aspects of the first of kind technologies that are getting deployed in the UK. This offers a chance to learn of others' experience on international commercial scale projects or prototype projects.
Power Plant Operations and Reliability 2023 will take place on 27 April 2023 at the ICC in Birmingham
Led by the Institution’s Thermal Power Committee, the seminar’s core focus will be on thermal power plants, exploring common technical challenges and presenting solutions to them from key, industry-specific case studies.
Presentations will provide perspectives from engineers across multiple industries to share best practice, fresh approaches, and operational strategies for all attendees.
To book your place, please visit the event website.