CQUniversity students set to contribute to energy future

Five CQUniversity students have been successful in receiving Energy Queensland's Future of Energy Engineering Scholarships.

Each worth $20,000 per year, Energy Queensland acting CEO Peter Scott said applications for the inaugural scholarships far exceeded expectations.

“This was always going to be a very attractive scholarship for Queensland-based engineering students, but the response we received was outstanding,” Mr Scott said.

“It’s really interesting that some of them are also studying for a second degree in areas such as Aerospace, Mechatronics, Information Technology, Data Science and even Biomedical.

“That’s exactly what Energy Queensland needs for our workforce to deliver the energy future our state needs.”

Energy Queensland’s Chief Engineer Peter Price said the Ergon Energy and Energex network businesses and energy solutions business Yurika already had a highly-skilled electrical engineering workforce, but these scholarships would add more engineers who could bring different types of thinking and problem-solving skills.

“The energy sector is going through massive growth, no more so than in Queensland where the state government has a jobs and energy plan to transform its networks to deliver a renewable energy future – that’s why these scholarships are so important to our businesses and to the industry as a whole,” Mr Price said.

Mr Price said the first 100 Future of Energy Engineering Scholarship holders included 28 final-year engineering students who will enter Energy Queensland’s Graduate Program next year.

Scholarship holders will also be offered employment opportunities in one of Energy Queensland’s distribution network businesses – Ergon Energy and Energex – or its energy solutions business Yurika as they complete their degree.

“Many of them have already had time working alongside our engineering teams as part of our Vacation Program and through other types of work experience – they have seen the challenges and speed at which the electricity industry is changing with renewables, electric vehicles and storage,” Mr Price said.

“These new graduates, and the successful second and third-year students who also make up the inaugural cohort, will play a fundamental role in designing the infrastructure to support increased network capability as we work to deliver a net zero future.”