Power on our Side

In his first few years at NOTUS Hannes had the opportunity to work for a partner company, gaining experience in financing projects and sales. Upon his return, he implemented this knowledge and earned the responsibility for project planning which saw him manage post-acquisition phase activities, including contract preparation. When the business was re-structured in 2016, Hannes was endorsed by senior colleagues to assume the role of Operations Managing Director and he took on responsibility for the commercial and technical functions as well as asset management.

Whilst the sustainable energy industry in German is big business and ever expanding, initiating a sustainable energy project is not as easy as you would think – something that we can relate to in the UK. Certainly, the project initiation phase can be intensely bureaucratic and lengthy, with projects taking anywhere from one year to more than a decade to come to fruition. However, NOTUS is well placed in Germany’s sustainable energy market, agile enough to take advantage of opportunities whilst also being sufficiently well-resourced to cope with the risk and long lead times associated with project initiation.

Regulatory changes are also the source of many of the challenges faced by Hannes’ team, but he praises the dynamism of his co-workers, perhaps leaning on those experiences during his early Bradfield days. “Our approach is very collaborative and we work well together, which honestly makes even the tricky stuff fun.”

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY PROVIDES MANY INTERESTING CAREER OPPORTUNITIES.

Sustainable energy is not all about the cold topics of science and business – site permissions require the buy-in of the local populations which often comes down to the aesthetics of a proposal. However, in Germany there is less of the NIMBYism that prevents UK sustainable projects going ahead. It is however that very interplay of aesthetics and technology that motivated Hannes’ father to set up NOTUS energy in the first place and continues to motivate him now. “The better we rebuild the forces of nature, the more efficient and beautiful the result.” His understanding of aesthetics has remained his guiding principle. In Heiner’s view, the fate of individuals and society is determined by the laws of nature and using climate-friendly renewable energies will help us to achieve the required and sustainable balance.

Heiner and Hannes would therefore wholeheartedly support sustainability being a more prominent focus for Bradfieldians thinking of their future careers. “I would happily recommend a career in sustainable energy to any Bradfield leaver. It is a growth area that provides many interesting career opportunities. In addition to the normal business functions of finance, marketing, sales and so forth, sustainable energy companies require many different types of engineers to develop and maintain the wind farms and solar fields.” Civil engineers are required for construction, mechanical engineers for gearbox and bearings, electrical engineers for power generation, aerospace engineers for blade design and systems engineers to ensure the successful running of the site. Specialists are also needed with expertise in geography or geology as well as nature and ecology experts who can advise on the wildlife movement during the initial acquisition process and optimise sites for the local flora and fauna to minimise impact.

Additionally, Hannes attributes learning English as a key contributor to his workplace success and conversely would encourage English speakers to learn other languages. Whilst the culture of international companies might dictate that English would be the principal language, NOTUS’s national offices operate in German and a working knowledge of German is essential to workplace competence but also enjoyment of life outside of work and so it would be for other national companies.