Ever wondered who oversees the controls of our islands electricity demand and usage? Here we meet Robbie Watson, one of our Control Room Operators based in our power station's control room.
What is your role at Guernsey Electricity?
"I am one of the Control Room Operators (CRO’s) and my role is to oversee and 'control' our islands electricity.
Electricity is a 24/7 business, and there are six teams in total who help take care of our power supply each and every single day and night.
My 'shift' team of three includes a Shift Engineer and a Shift Operator. As my team’s CRO, I'm responsible for switching on electricity generators when they're needed, helping restore power if power cuts happen, and making sure islanders always have the continuous, on-demand electricity supply they need.
I also monitor incoming electricity from our 60MW importation cable, add generators to the electricity network (something known as ‘synchronising’), log half-hourly readings from the electricity substations scattered across the island, and monitor our power station and substation CCTV."
How does your job help keep the island running?
“I’m based in Guernsey Electricity's control room and from here I can monitor all the island’s electricity demand and usage in real-time.
Demand runs in tandem with human behaviour and is affected by both the weather and time of year. So this is a non-stop job where demand changes regularly and demand logged on an half-hourly basis.
By closely monitoring energy consumption patterns and historical trends, I work alongside my Shift Engineer to anticipate fluctuations in demand and establish how much generation we need and if/when we need to start any of the ten different engines we have on the site.
This involves analysing data from various sources – including weather forecasts, grid performance, and customer usage patterns - to help the team make informed decisions on power supply.
Alongside monitoring supply, I also handle out of hours emergency calls from the public and become the point of contact for dispatching engineers and updating social media about supply interruptions outside of normal office hours. These calls are often made up of cable faults or other emergencies that may affect our customers power supply or lighting on the street.
Through monitoring electricity demand, proactively supporting power generation decisions and responding to customer calls, I believe my job is critical in helping keep our island running."
What other industries have you worked in?
“I started out in the military as an infantry soldier for 6-years. After my time in the army, I then got into engine builds with Jaguar/Land Rover for 2-years before moving on to Telecoms/Fibre with BT, Virgin Media, and Guernsey Fibre for around 4 years.
Now I find myself in the control room of Guernsey Electricity."
What does a typical day (or week) look like for you?
"I like to start the day with a cold shower, or a sea swim when I can. When I’m not at work, I love reading, currently reading the Tolkien series, and I enjoy cooking, fishing, gaming, and travelling as much as I can.
Life at Electricity HQ can be very different day by day and it’s difficult to summarise into a few words.
I'll manage external contractors signing in and out of the site, form plans around the power import with my Generation Engineer who decides what engine/generator to start if needed, and programme the streetlights to sync with daylight saving and any decorative lighting.
I also handle all out of hours calls from our customers and dispatch on-call engineers between the hours of 17:00 and 08:30. I need to work cohesively with our electricity distribution team when they're out working on the island's network to make sure everything is done as safely and efficiently as possible.
What is your proudest achievement so far?
Definitely serving my country. I achieved everything I wanted from the military and seeing the world from the Middle East to The Falkland Islands.
What is the most unusual thing about your job and how would you describe it to someone who knows nothing about it?
“Although very unlikely, if ever there were an island-wide power cut, the responsibility to restore the power falls to our electricity generation team to start and control the output of our engines.
I find this the most unusual and mind-blowing part of my job as it bears such a huge amount of responsibility.”
If you could swap jobs with anyone for a day, who would it be and why?
“I think it would be fun to swap jobs with an F1 driver for the day because I love the F1!"
Who inspires you the most?
“My parents. They're two incredible people who mean the world to me and I honestly do not know where in life I would be without them.”
What advice would you give your younger self?
“I’d still tell myself to join the military. Although it can be difficult to adjust to life after, the skills and people I met along the way are invaluable to me now.
I’d tell myself that it will never get easier, you just learn to become stronger, wiser, and to know the difference between what you can and can’t control.”
What are the best benefits offered by GEL in your opinion?
“I really enjoy the shift pattern and see it as a benefit because it allows a constant turnaround of people on and off shift to return focused and refreshed to carry out our responsibilities.
The shift patterns here work as 6-week rotations, made up of 4-weeks working on shift, followed by 2-weeks ‘standdown’.
This gives me a good 2-week rest every month with a decent amount of time to spend as I choose – including reading, sea swimming, cooking and travelling!"
I work together with my Shift Engineer and Shift Operator as a team of three – which means there is always someone in the control room 24/7. And as there are six teams working like this in total, we’re also covered 365 days of the year.
Bonus question – who do you like to follow on LinkedIn and why?
"I mainly follow my ex-officers/commanders from my time in the army as they always share valuable insights to become better leaders"
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Shaun Taylor
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Dave Maddock
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Ger Fowler
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Simon Bryan
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Scott Littleton
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George Thompson
Interested in joining our team?
