Earlier this year at Solar & Storage Live, we caught up with Hannah Magowan, Lead Engineer for Storage & Renewables at Dale Power Solutions.
As an engineering professional, Hannah’s career began with an apprenticeship and has since spanned the evolving energy sector.
In this interview, she reflects on the importance of early engagement with schools to break down gender stereotypes in STEM, the real-world challenges businesses face on the road to net zero, and how Dale Power Solutions is helping customers navigate rising energy costs and grid constraints.
“I think rather than just doing school visits to universities, we should be getting young people into industry early – showing them the variety of jobs, the atmosphere, and what it’s actually like.”
You started your career as an engineering apprentice in the energy industry and have stayed in the sector ever since. How can we better encourage other young women to join the energy sector?
Hannah: For me, it’s not so much about running women-in-engineering campaigns. They’re great, but they can sometimes do as much harm as good – people might see it as special treatment.
The biggest thing we can do is work more closely with schools and education to get people into industry at a younger age.
One of our favourite events is Scarborough Science and Engineering Week. It brings together all the local STEM companies for a big show, and we invite all the primary and secondary schools in the area.
You can really see the difference between primary schools, where there are no preconceived ideas about who should be in what job. Additionally, in secondary schools, gender stereotypes have already started to form. There’s so much more engagement and excitement from younger kids of all genders.
It’s also difficult because, when I left school ten years ago, there wasn’t much in the way of careers advice – at least not before age 16. You knew what your parents did, but not much beyond that.
The first time I stepped into an engineering business was for a job interview, and it was kind of by fluke that I found it.
I think rather than just doing school visits to universities, we should be getting young people into industry early – showing them the variety of jobs, the atmosphere, and what it’s actually like.
Unless you’ve seen and experienced it for yourself, you’re not necessarily going to consider it as a career – especially if you’re a high academic achiever.
What is Dale Power Solutions’ role and mission in the solar industry, and how does it inspire your work?
Hannah: We’re a full EPC provider of battery storage and solar. We’re actually a really old company – our core products are generators and uninterruptible power supplies. We do full design and engineering on those.
As solar and storage have become more prominent in the UK, we’ve been focused on supporting our customers on their journey to net zero and helping them reduce their energy bills – two huge challenges everyone is facing.
We want to be the leading turnkey provider for behind-the-meter energy storage and solar, although we also work on front-of-the-meter, larger-scale projects.
Can you talk to us about DPS’ exciting new UK BESS contract award?
Hannah: We’ve just won a project with one of the major UK banking groups. It’s a four-megawatt-hour battery coupled with about 1.4MWp of solar. It’s a huge project.
They’ve installed the solar across carports because they don’t have rooftop space, but their consumption is extremely high. The site is the largest in the UK for that company; it’s a technology centre with a data centre and other high-demand infrastructure.
They needed battery storage because they couldn’t get DNO approval to connect all that solar directly to the grid. So, by adding a battery, they can use 100% of the solar energy they generate and get around the grid constraints they were facing.
What challenges are your customers frequently facing, and what solutions has DPS devised?
Hannah: Energy bills are rising – we’re all feeling that – and that’s driving a lot of interest in self-generation. Many companies also have ambitious sustainability goals as part of their net-zero commitments.
The government is pushing for EV fleets and heat pumps, both of which massively increase a site’s energy consumption.
The problem is that the grid can’t keep up. When companies apply for a grid upgrade, they’re sometimes told it’ll take 10 years – which obviously isn’t viable.
Battery storage and solar help in two ways: first, they reduce energy bills by allowing companies to generate and use their own power; and second, the battery acts as a buffer.
If a business is expanding and its grid connection isn’t large enough, the battery can be charged overnight or with solar and used during the day.
It gives companies flexibility – and options they wouldn’t otherwise have.
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