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The Panasonic Trust Fellowships
Martyn Berry – MSc Energy and the Environment, University of Reading
I have had an interest in renewable energy technologies since the mid 1980’s
when I entered a kid’s competition about energy. I remember drawing a poster
with a solar panel on it; I was awarded runner-up and got a signed
certificate from Maggie Philbin on Tomorrow’s World. I imagine the only
solar panel I had ever seen in real life was a Casio calculator and climate
change was not something anyone was aware of at that time.
In 1997 I graduated from University of Wales with a
degree in Mechanical Engineering. Shortly after this I took a placement at
the Metso Corporation in Manchester working on the design of vacuum coating
machines. I was drawn to the company because it had an R&D area working to
develop machines for the production of thin film photovoltaic (PV) cells. It
was not long before I started to seek out new opportunities and decided that
I wanted a career in renewable energy. I found the range of technologies
fascinating; I was becoming increasingly aware of climate change. At that
time jobs in the industry were few, especially for a fairly fresh graduate.
This led me to consider a further qualification. I investigated various
postgraduate courses and settled on the Energy & Environment MSc at the
University of Reading; the combination of engineering and environmental
studies looked ideal. I also found that this course was supported by the
Panasonic Trust and as a young graduate the possibility of funding to
support me was a great draw. My application to the Trust was successful and
I was awarded a Fellowship in 1999.
The one year MSc at Reading was hard work but hugely
rewarding. One of the most valuable elements of the course was the range of
industrial visits throughout the year; one of these visits is where I first
came across Solarcentury. In early 2000 the company had around 12 employees
and was making no money. It was based in a chilly industrial unit at the
back of the Sainsbury’s supermarket in Richmond. During the visit
Solarcentury staff talked inspirationally about the possibilities for the
application of PV technologies and where they and the rest of a relatively
new industry were headed in the future.
After completing my studies in the autumn of 2000, I
found that even with a Masters degree jobs in the industry were still hard
to find. Many were government funded roles and organisations had frozen
recruitment until after the 2001 election. I spent a short time working on
various energy and transport projects with the University of Reading, the
whole time hunting for new opportunities. The visit to the chilly industrial
shed in Richmond had planted a seed and so Solarcentury was a company I was
watching closely. During a chance conversation with one of the company
directors I learned about the possibility of a government funded Knowledge
Transfer Partnership (KTP), then the Teaching Company Scheme, programme on a
two year fixed term contract taking place at Solarcentury to work on a
product development project for the company. I applied immediately. After
several months delay due to confirmation of the government funding and a
round of formal interviews I was accepted for the job as a KTP Associate. My
first day at Solarcentury was the first day the office opened after the
Christmas holiday in January 2002. Since 2000 the company had grown to
around 30 people and had moved to a spacious office spread over three floors
in Waterloo, with a turnover of around £100K. During the two year project I
worked on the development of what is now Solarcentury’s flagship product,
the C21e solar electric roof tile. I saw the project through from the early
stages of what went in the KTP proposal to the DTI through to the first
incarnation of the product in production and installation. During the KTP
programme I completed my professional membership application with the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers and gained my CEng qualification in
2003. In addition I completed an NVQ Level 4 in business management. In 2005
the Solarcentury KTP was one of the programmes awarded by the DTI for
excellence.
Since completion of the KTP programme in January 2004
I have been employed as the company’s first full time product design and
development engineer. I have worked with both the Engineering and Innovation
Development teams at Solarcentury leading the detailed design on numerous
flagship building integrated PV installations and key product developments.
These include the Eden Project Core, Vauxhall Cross Bus Station,
developments to the C21 solar tile range and residential Sunstation
products. Following our success in the UK, I have also supported the
introduction of our products into new European markets where I have worked
with local partners in France, Spain and Italy to deploy our products onto
their customers’ buildings. Now, as one of the most experienced engineers in
both product development and project implementation I am the Principle
Engineer at Solarcentury working across both the Innovation Team and
Engineering Team to oversee the launch, introduction and deployment of new
products.
The C21e solar tile is the most successful product
I’ve been involved with. It has collected numerous construction and
environmental product awards. Large housing developers like Taylor Wimpey
and Barratt Homes now commonly use this product to help them meet the
environmental code for their new build houses, hundreds of systems have now
been installed throughout the UK and many more elsewhere in Europe.
In December 2009, following investment from Scottish
and Southern Energy and several venture capital funds, the company has grown
and now has a turnover of around £30M. We are still based in our Waterloo
office although it is not as spacious as it was when I started as we now
have over 110 staff. We have offices in Madrid, Milan, and La Rochelle as
well as regionally based staff across the UK and France. Feed-in Tariffs
such as those in Germany, France and Italy where the Electricity Utility
pays the system owner a premium for the renewable electricity they export to
the grid has had a huge impact on the growth of the business. This growth
has made Solarcentury a stimulating place to be, there are always
challenging technical, commercial and cultural problems to be solved to
improve our products and move the business forward. 2010 will be an exciting
year for Solarcentury. The UK Feed-In Tariff for renewable electricity will
launch in April. This will bring about change in all parts of the renewable
energy industry and offer many opportunities for businesses and individuals.
Piecing together the last few years since graduation
demonstrates how influential the Panasonic Trust was to my career; without
the financial support it gave me it is likely I would not have been able to
pursue the Master’s degree at University of Reading and the subsequent
opportunities would have never presented themselves. Solarcentury, with its
huge business growth and award winning activities is a company I’m very
proud to work for, the company has a strong sense of corporate social
responsibility and it tries hard to be a great place to work for all its
staff. I continue to be excited about the technologies I work with and proud
to be in an organisation that is seeking to part of the solution to Climate
Change.
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