Graduate profile – Theo Ah Hing
Meet Electrical Engineer Theo Ah Hing, who is based at Callide Power Station.
With the rebuild of Callide C cooling towers commencing soon, and around 200 contractors needing to be close to the construction site, Theo is project managing the establishment of the temporary contractors’ facility.
Theo is a recent university graduate and contracting with CS Energy through Chandler Macleod; although he’s not part of our formal graduate program, he is benefitting from access to seasoned industry professionals and as much exposure to real-world work as possible. And while Theo is a qualified electrical engineer, he is relishing the opportunity to gain experience beyond his core engineering discipline.
“At the moment I’m working in a project team with mechanical, civil, and electrical engineers and learning things you would do for civil and mechanical engineering - like the strength of concrete, invert levels for pipes, and conduits for service location,” he said.
“There’s also all the basic stuff that you wouldn’t really think about in everyday life, like stormwater drainage – so, when you’re building a place, you have to consider what happens when it’s raining, where is the water going to go? Is it going to cause any damage?
“I’ve also learned about traffic management of people who are going to be walking through specific parts of the facility and the interaction with onsite vehicles. So, there’s a lot of health and safety that I’m learning as well.”
The contractors’ facility will provide work areas and crib rooms for the rebuild contractor, IWC Australasia, and other contractors involved in the rebuild of the Unit C3 and C4 cooling towers.
Theo said it was great to have access to senior engineers from different disciplines at CS Energy to mentor and supervise him.
“In the project team I have Allistair Irmer who is a construction engineer; Jim Harrison, a mechanical engineer; and Steve Richter, a civil engineer.
“Any time I’m working on something related to their field, I look up the standards, create a layout and methodology, and then they check it. We go through it together, discuss the approach I’ve taken, and then they guide me through the process and how they would approach it, and if I need to make any changes to meet requirements.
“I have a lot of mentors who help me every day, and I receive guidance from a lot of different departments,” he said.
Of course, as an electrical engineer himself, Theo is also responsible for ensuring the electrical services are installed in the facility; he works with senior electrical engineers to achieve Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland (RPEQ) signoff on the detailed designs, as well as getting them signed off by Project Governance Manager Craig Wood.
“I’m looking forward to doing more electrical engineering work in the coming months and learning more about how electrical engineering works at a power station, and the steps required to get power from one spot to another,” Theo said.
In the meantime, the skills he’s picking up from project managing the construction of the facility have broadened his horizons.
“Having knowledge of civil, mechanical, and health and safety aspects will definitely help if I’m doing a similar project in the project, or if I’m working on something that has those three in common. It certainly has the potential to accelerate my career path.”
CS Energy owns Callide C Power Station in a joint venture with IG Power.