Our Future of Energy plans have taken another step forward with the appointment of Simon Joyce as our Principal Engineer. He’ll be playing an important role at the heart of our transformational plans to deliver on net zero for millions of homes and businesses across Scotland and southern England.
Simon tells us a bit about his background and why he’s excited about his appointment.
I’m Simon and I’ve worked in the gas industry for nearly 22 years. Before I started in the gas industry, I had a few varied jobs including being a welder, a craftsman, a forklift driver and I even once worked in a record shop! I started working in Connections before moving over to Asset Management as an Asset Engineer, managing high pressure pipelines. I then moved to Engineering Policy as a Manager where I regularly engaged with various stakeholders on Transmission and Plant policy updates.
I’m always conscious that this future requires building on the legacy of the gas industry. We must not underestimate the great work that’s been done and is being done within our sector, but I want to use the engineering knowledge gathered to build a cleaner and better network for the future.
My advice to new people joining us is that your previous experience will be transferable to SGN and to take the opportunities that are offered. My previous experience in other roles have always helped with new challenges that present themselves.
In my new role as Principal Engineer for Future of Energy, I’ll be helping to make sure SGN as a whole is ready for the engineering and safety challenges the future of energy brings.
As part of my role, I’ll also be reporting back to our Network team to make sure our network is prepared for a potential hydrogen future. It’s important that the differences in hydrogen to natural gas are understood, evidenced and managed for when the new energy changes occur.
What excites me about the role is how it encompasses the wide range of exciting future of energy projects we’re leading in. We’re helping build critical evidence for hydrogen through these world-first projects and this is something that definitely intrigues me. I’m also excited about working with the latest in innovation and having a part to play in reaching net zero.
