From graduate to Chief Engineer

ESO Head of National Control Roisin Quinn joined National Grid as a graduate in 2004 - she is now Chief Engineer and head of our control room, responsible for keeping the lights on in Great Britain.

Our engineers and the expertise they bring to work every day is at the heart of the ESO’s role, balancing supply and demand for electricity second by second. To celebrate and support this vital part of what we do we have appointed Roisin Quinn as Chief Engineer.

Creating a Chief Engineer role helps us to celebrate our current engineering talent, while strengthening our efforts to attract new engineers to National Grid ESO at one of the most exciting times to be in the energy industry. This role also makes sure there is significant focus on engineering at a senior level, providing appropriate input into the ESO Executive Committee.

Ro, who holds a degree in Electrical Engineering, is one of six female leaders in in the ESO’s leadership team of 9. She joined National Grid as a graduate in 2004, and has held a variety of roles including Head of Energy Strategy and Policy at the ESO. Outside of National Grid ESO she is vice chair of the board of Renewables UK and on the Advisory Board to the Energy Futures Lab at Imperial College London.

She added:

“It’s an exciting time to be an engineer in the energy sector, with new, renewable sources of power connecting to the system. It requires us to come up with new ways of working to deliver cleaner energy and that’s what engineering is all about – finding innovative solutions to help us do things better, solve problems and turn ideas into reality.

“National Grid ESO is built on a foundation of engineering excellence and I’m incredibly proud to have been appointed Chief Engineer. We have a variety of different engineers, in a variety of different roles, all working to balance supply and demand second by second and deliver safe, secure and reliable electricity.

“I hope my appointment spotlights the fantastic work they do as well as encouraging the next generation of young engineers to join us and help shape the future of electricity in Great Britain.”