Zenobe Energy

Edmund Richards,St Edmund Hall, Final Year Undergraduate, MEng Engineering Science,Remote Working

Work Projects

I successfully completed two projects during my 8-week internship. The first was to aid the Operations team at Zenobe in managing their assets (battery sites). After a meeting with this department it was established that providing alerts when a battery had an issue and could not offer its full capacity would be hugely beneficial. This alert was to be provided by WhatsApp to ensure it would always reach the Operations team even when they were on a site. Further complexity was added as team members wanted to be able to request specific

historical information about a battery triggered by a WhatsApp message. This again aimed to improve the process of accessing key data quickly, allowing them to make better decisions about battery management. With the brief established, it was then task of implementing it in Python. It involved integrating 3rd party apps that allowed a WhatsApp "chat bot" form of communication, as well as decisions on how to filter the raw data in the database and how to best communicate it to the Operations team in a message. These latter points I feel were crucial in my development as an effective data analyst for the company, communicating the key headlines in the data to a team in a way they could understand and act on them quickly.

The support I received from the Operations and Data Analyst members of the company was brilliant. I was given the responsibility to make decisions on the additional software I needed as well as a significant amount of their time to discuss issues. One example was the problem of filtering of noise from the data before sending alerts, so as not to report false periods of a battery having an issue. Despite the workload a colleague had, he was as committed to the project as I was and provided useful feedback to my coded solutions and we approached the challenge from a range of directions before finding a method that worked. After some additional tuning of the code, the WhatsApp bot went into production and is now used by the Operations team as a useful tool in their continuous management of the battery assets.

The second project I undertook was again for asset management, this time providing a tool to use for diagnosing why a battery was not fully operational. The aim was to be able to run this over historical data to group and categorise reasons for battery unavailability and to provide useful metrics for measuring battery performance. In this task I was able to develop my coding skills further, by developing a neat and flexible code structure that could be used as a framework for future projects. I also explored the functionality of Python software that is used for testing to ensure each new section of code that was added was robust and worked in isolation before adding it to the flowchart of diagnosis decisions. Here presentation of results was in the form of plots rather than messages allowing me to develop another area of data analysis skills in a professional environment.

Daily Life

The internship with Zenobe was conducted remotely. Over the course of the internship I was both in my student house in Oxford and at my family home. My student home was more compact, meaning working and eating was very easy to combine into a routine. The house was quiet, and I was not disturbed which helped productivity. However, this was a negative outside of work as there was no private space to walk around in or take a break in

and living on my own for weeks at a time lead to periods of loneliness. I made the effort to meet up with friends who were still in Oxford in the evenings, but due to the restrictions and it being the Long Vacation, these opportunities were limited.

At my family home, the opposite of the above was true. It was harder to find somewhere quiet to work and not be disturbed, but I grew used to this atmosphere quickly and it was not a problem apart from the occasional disruption during a virtual meeting. It was nice to have a garden to get some fresh air, and to have constant company if I wanted it during the evenings to help me switch off from work.

The data analysis team at Zenobe had an excellent system set up for remote working. We would have a daily meeting every evening to summarise our day's work and importantly our plan for the next day. This allowed everyone to stay aware of each other's workload and to establish times to organise meetings to discuss specific issues. It also kept my focus and gave each day a structure which I feel was very important when working on large projects independently. Most days I would also check in with a colleague who was supervising my project to discuss any ideas or problems we had and to update the direction of the project if necessary.

My mentor was also helpful in organising some networking meetings with other colleagues in the company, to explain their roles and that aspect of the business. There was on average one of these a week, so by the end of the internship I had a thorough and wider understanding of the industry than I could have hoped for when joining under remote working circumstances. These provided an interesting interlude to project work and allowed me to establish some useful contacts for the future. Finally, the data analysis team did manage to meet up in personal after work twice during the internship. It was great to socialise properly and pleasant to have a more relaxed and natural conversation with the team rather than the focused and intense nature of a virtual meeting.

Lasting Impressions

My lasting impressions from my time at Zenobe are very good. I could not have asked for an internship more tailored to my aims when I was searching for work over the summer. Sustainable energy was the industry I wanted to work in, as it linked with my 4th year modules at Oxford as well as my research project. But the internship went further by

expanding my knowledge of energy storage, a developing sector crucial to the industry, and inspired me to want to return to the sector in the future.

I hope the experience I have gained will aid me in applying to roles in this area later in my career. The work was challenging and fulfilling, which is exactly what I want from any future job. Challenging as I was out of my comfort zone for periods of the projects, allowing me to learn a huge amount. Fulfilling because I could see the need for the work that I was doing within the company. The fact that the company's business aligns with facilitating and driving the transition to a carbon-neutral society was also important to me and inspired me to put in the extra effort. I went into the internship expecting to learn about energy storage and develop my Python skills, and was happy to achieve both of those goals. However, I had not considered that I would also get to experience the culture of a start-up company, which was very different to larger organisations I had had placements with in the past.

I think the strongest impression that was left with me was that I really enjoyed the start-up culture. The responsibility I was immediately given was empowering as I felt I could take ownership of my project, and the fact that the company is not weighed down with complicated internal administration meant I could get my code into production and see its effect on the business very quickly. The exposure to the whole business and the ability to have an impact on the company's future in such a short space of time, has seriously impressed me and will be something I consider when applying for work in the future. Despite only meeting a couple of members of the team face to face, I could join them on weekly company-wide virtual calls which I look back on warmly. Everyone gave the impression of being dedicated to growing the company and the battery sector but could step back and have a good time whilst doing it too.

What advice would you give to future interns?

If there are areas or members of the business you would like to speak to just ask your mentor if they can set you up a meeting. Working remotely did not stop the ability to meet the whole company if you want to. Setting up a regular catch up session with your team or supervisor was very useful in structuring my daily work and project. Zenobe already had an excellent plan for this but if there is not one in place when you start, I would really recommend trying to keep in regular contact with your team.

Cormac Sarch Thomas,Wadham College, Final YearUndergraduate,MEng Engineering Science, Remote Working

Work Projects

For my internship at Zenobe I was working in the Data Science Team, which consisted of 5 people (including me and another intern). I worked on two main projects during my time at Zenobe. The first of these was developing a python model of a battery providing frequency response services to the national grid. This model took a week or two to complete. With the completed model I explored how to optimise the operation of the batteries while providing frequency response services. This involved forming a cost function and performing sensitivity analyses over different values for the operating parameters of interest. The final optimal scenario was able to increase income significantly.

My second project saw me design an automated email reporting system. This was also in Python. The project required designing functions to find revenues, cycling and energy costs for assets performing frequency response services. This involved a wide variety of different data sources and some basic html coding for formatting the emails. Throughout the internship I was supported by the rest of the team; we had a half an hour call every day together and my colleagues made it easy for me to contact them with questions if I ever needed help. I always had something to work on, which was great.

Daily Life

My internship at Zenobe was completed remotely. While it was a shame to never go into the office, this did get rid of the daily commute. Zenobe had a laptop sent to me for my time at the company and I completed my work on this. For most of the internship I worked at my desk from home in London, but remote working allowed me to spend some time with family outside of London during the 8 weeks. A typical day consisted of working on my projects and catching up with my colleagues if I had completed a piece of work or needed some help.

Every day at 17:30 my team would have a half an hour call to go over what we had done during the day, and our plans for the next day. These daily calls were particularly useful as I got a good sense of what everyone else in my team was working on and they were a good time to raise questions and they ensured I always had something to work on. On Friday afternoons the whole company would join a Teams call and catch up. Sometimes this would involve a quiz or a guest speaker, and other times everyone would chat about what they were working on. Despite working remotely my team was able to meet up for some drinks after work a couple of times.

Lasting Impressions

My internship at Zenobe was a very valuable experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it. While it was a shame not to experience daily office life at Zenobe and get to know colleagues outside of my team a bit better, I actually found that working remotely allowed me to adapt to my work more easily. Over the 8 weeks I developed my Python and Excel skills, and I learned a lot from my colleagues in my team. I was also able to gain a significant insight into both Zenobe and the clean energy sector in general. This was aided by regular sessions with members of the company both inside and outside of the data science team. These sessions ranged from covering accounts to regulation & policy and I found them very valuable. The experience has confirmed my desire to work in renewable/clean energy.