EEA Awards celebrate meritorious service, safety and engineering excellence and our next generation of engineers

Initiatives utilising location technology, best practice instructional design and te ao Māori values were celebrated today at the annual EEA Conference and Technology Exhibition awards ceremony.

The EEA Awards are given in recognition of outstanding contribution to industry and to showcase, reward and celebrate excellence and innovation. Three project-based awards were announced alongside several individual awards and scholarships.

The judges noted how this year, a significant factor in each of the winning entries was the level of stakeholder and staff engagement they included, with each project achieving success by working closely with others.

EEA Chief Executive and judge Peter Berry said: “It was fantastic to see such a broad and inclusive approach to achieving success. We know that across industry, the only way we will deliver a net zero carbon energy future is by working collaboratively and that includes with our communities.

“This year’s winning projects show our industry is committed to this level of collaboration.”

Northpower won the Engineering Excellence award for their initiative ‘Enabling te ao Māori values to guide construction of a resilient power supply for Whangārei’.

The transmission tower replacement and relocation project provided examples of excellence in how engineering challenges were addressed, the emphasis given to reducing risk to flora and fauna, and how significant stakeholder engagement was managed.

Powerco’s ‘Car verses Pole’ initiative won the Public Safety Award for its use of extensive data modelling and stakeholder engagement to first identify high risk power poles and then implement change to prevent serious harm incidents and fatalities.

In 2023 Powerco embarked on a 10-year programme to eliminate or mitigate the risk of vehicles versus poles at all 845 identified locations, now part of Powerco’s Asset Management Plan.

The Workplace Safety Award was won by WEL Networks’ initiative ‘Improving workplace safety on low voltage assets for our industry’.

The team used best practice in instructional design and significant staff engagement to transform the EEA’s Guide to Low Voltage Works Management for Distribution (Network) Infrastructure Assets, into practical, visual guidelines to improve safety across the industry.

They adopted a ‘field-up’ approach to deliver an outcome that was firmly based on worker needs and was welcomed by staff.

In other awards, Northpower’s Shaun Brown was selected for the Professional Development Award, while Ventia’s Harsharan Singh was celebrated for picking up the Young Engineer of the Year Award, announced earlier this year.

As part of his award, Shaun is off to Geneva to attend the CIRED 2025 – Conference and Exhibition on Electricity Distribution, while Harsharan will attend the IEC Young Professionals in Edinburgh, next month.

The EEA’s University Scholarship Award winners were also acknowledged at Conference having been awarded earlier in the year.

Scholarships were awarded to Sammy Soud from the Auckland University of Technology, the University of Auckland’s James Davison and Julio Romero and the University of Canterbury’s Treasa Glubb, Alison Murray and Alice Fahy.

In the final award of the Conference, Alison Andrew, former CE of Transpower and Peter Berry, outgoing CE of the EEA, were honoured with a Meritorious Service Award.

EEA President Josie Boyd said the Meritorious Service Award recognises a visionary leader who has brought significant benefit to our electricity supply industry, and to New Zealand.

“It is a rare accolade and so it gives me great pleasure to announce Alison as our 19th and Peter as our 20th recipients.

“In 2018 Alison brought a vision of change to industry with the publication of Te Mauri Hiko, which explored potential future scenarios for New Zealand’s energy future. This report was the first of its kind. It forced us to take a second look at our assumptions of what the future would bring.

“Today, we continue to reference and quote this work led by Alison.

“She has also been a staunch advocate for women in engineering, women in leadership, diversity across the industry and for the promotion of STEM subjects in schools through Transpower’s commitment to Engineering New Zealand’s Wonder Project.

“Alison has earned the respect of many for her vision, her bold leadership and her commitment.

In the second Meritorious Award of the day, Peter Berry was honoured for his remarkable service and unwavering commitment to the success of the EEA and the electricity supply sector.

“Peter has led the EEA for the past 31 years and has turned it into what it is today, supporting our people to ensure they meet the engineering, technical and safety requirements of the day while also preparing for the future,” said Josie.

“He has navigated the dynamics of a continually changing sector with calm assurance and his knowledge of the industry is second-to-none. His achievements are many and include the establishment of the conference where we are thrilled to now honour him with this award.”

The EEA Awards were announced on day two of EEA2024, the Annual Conference and Technology Exhibition being held in Christchurch. More than 1000 delegates, exhibitors and visitors attended the event.

COMPLETE LIST:

1. Meritorious service awards: Alison Andrew and Peter Berry
2. Engineering excellence award: Northpower, Enabling te ao Māori values to guide construction of a resilient power supply for Whangārei
3. Public safety award: Powerco, Car verses pole
4. Workplace safety award: WEL Networks, Improving workplace safety on low voltage assets for our industry.
5. Professional development award: Shaun Brown, Distribution Engineering Manager, Northpower.
6. Young engineer of the year award: Harsharan Singh, Operations Manager, Ventia
7. University scholarships: