YUNG Yuen || BENG (Hons) Electronic & Information Engineering || Natural Power Consultants Ltd, Scotland, UK

Renewable energy is one of the major strategies to fight climate change and save the planet. While many nations are putting more resources into green energy technologies, the internship opportunity for Electronic and Information Engineering student Yung Yuen in Scotland has provided him an inside look at the latest renewable energy technologies and business.

Through a nine-week internship at Natural Power Consultants Ltd, a company developing renewable energy in Scotland, Yuen gained precious knowledge and exposure in developing renewable energy. He also got close to nature and became more aware of environmental protection.

Under the supervision of a senior asset analyst in the technical department, Yuen developed software and analysed data of wind turbines collected from wind farms. “The company focuses mainly on developing wind energy, and they have put tidal and wave energy on the list for consideration too,” says Yuen.

Yuen also worked on filtering useful data such as wind speed and the active power of turbines in wind farm sites using Microsoft SQL Server and helped in software development, data analysis, programming and web page development. While Yuen applied skills, such as programming, learnt in university on his jobs, he also picked up some new skills during the internship. “I also learnt two new programming languages which are going to be very useful to me in the long run,” Yuen adds.

Achieve work-life balance

Unlike in Hong Kong where people are surrounded by high-rises, Yuen got close to the nature in Scotland and indulge in a different countryside experience by working in an office surrounded by a large forest and farms and by staying on a farm. Yuen, who helped feed the chickens and tend the garden at the farm, enjoyed the calmness and the relaxing lifestyle of the country.

In Scotland, people enjoy a good balance between work and life. Yuen had a pleasurable experience of this during the internship. “Every Friday, we had a barbeque lunch in the backyard of our office,” says Yuen, who also joined his Scottish colleagues on a sailing trip. “It was most enjoyable. There is not much chance doing something like this in Hong Kong.”