A devoted dad has dedicated his three-decade long career to powering people’s lives in the North East, Yorkshire, and northern Lincolnshire.
Andrew Webster, Innovation Project Manager for Northern Powergrid, spends his days working hard to creatively solve the electricity network issues we are likely to face in the future, thinking about how to help the next generation.
The 55-year-old, who lives in Hayden Bridge near Hexham, got a summer job with Northern Powergrid back in 1989, unsure he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps as an overhead linesperson.
It was cable jointing that sparked Andrew’s interest in the business, and he was made a full-time permanent member of staff not long after starting.
Since then, the keen cricketer has worked a plethora of jobs across Northern Powergrid, including working as a connections enigneer before settling into his current position in the Innovation team.
This year, the Innovation team has almost doubled in size and Andrew has been a trusted set of hands whilst welcoming the next generation of innovative thinkers to Northern Powergrid.
Whilst his work is often long-term project based, Andrew can see the impact of his work in our everyday lives, and the work of other Distribution Network Operators (DNOs).
Two of his longest running and most impactful projects, MicroResilience and Storm Triage, are making waves in the industry and will be revolutionary in the way Northern Powergrid work.
Northern Powergrid’s MicroResilience project is expected to keep customers in rural areas on supply, even during extreme weather events like storms.
It works using battery energy storage technology, so that even if a grid outage does happen, the community continues to have power.
Storm Triage will establish a more robust communication channel between Northern Powergrid’s Front Runners in the field and in real time, and their Coordinators back at base.
Ensuring that vital network damage information and visual assessment is in front of the expert decision makers who need it in a more timely and accurate fashion.
Andrew said: “I wasn’t looking for a desk job when I took this role all those years ago, it was a summer job where I would be out and about and doing different things every day, I never thought I’d love it and still be here over thirty years later.
“I know some of the work I’ve been a part of over the years has really shaped the industry, some of our projects have been taken on by the big players and it makes me proud of the work I do because of that.
“Working in innovation lets you think about a problem creatively, you can bring all sorts of experience and ways of working to a problem or project and use it to help people in their everyday lives.
“These new projects that are coming through are really going to change the way we do things, it’s nice to see all the hard work finally pay off, some many people have been involved in getting them both to the finish line it’s going to be great to see them out in the business.”
Bart DeLeeuw, Head of Innovation at Northern Powergrid, said: “Having Andrew as part of the team is incredible, his passion for his work is still as high as it was back when he started over 30 years ago.
“Our team has grown significantly in the past year and knowing that Andrew is here to share his knowledge with people at various stages in their career is comforting.
“Sometimes in when working on Innovation, it takes a long time to get to the end of the project and see it come to fruition, but a key part of that persistence is the passion you hold for improving people’s lives, something Andrew has in buckets.
“We are ready for these two projects to change the way we work at Northern Powergrid; they will help shape the future of the network and we can’t wait to see the results.”
Feeling powered-up and inspired? Northern Powergrid is recruiting now for experienced learners in their craftsperson trainee programme.
Applications are open until 19 January 2025, you can apply to via northernpowergrid.com/careers
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