Hydropower Engineering 2023

Shaun Benzon: Head of Tidal Project Development, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

Dr Shaun Benzon is Head of Project Development for Mersey Tidal Power and a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He has over 10 years’ experience in hydropower, tidal power and energy infrastructure projects as well as computational modelling research and development. Shaun has previously worked for Mott MacDonald, Lancaster University and Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon in tidal power, hydropower, wave energy and turbine design and development.

Volker Brost: Senior Project Manager, Fichtner GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart, Germany

Dr.-Ing. Volker Brost is an expert for transients and control of hydro power plants. He graduated with a diploma degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. He continued at the Institute for Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulic Machinery (IHS) and obtained his doctoral degree in transient simulation of grid restoration scenarios with several hydropower plants in joint operation.

Volker Brost has been active in the field of hydro power for more than 20 years. From 2000 to 2012, during his tenure as research associate, he gained experience in CFD-modelling of hydro power components, control of hydro turbines and simulation of the transient behaviour in combination with in-situ measurements of the control behaviour of hydro power plants.

In 2012 he joined Schluchseewerk AG, Germany’s largest operator of pumped storage plants, and was responsible for the rehabilitation of hydro assets as technical project manager.

Since 2014 he is a senior consultant in the renewable department of Fichtner GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart, Germany. The company is active in due diligences, feasibility studies, lender’s and owner’s engineering roles all over the world in the field of hydropower.

Mike Wynd: Head of Hydro, Drax

Mike Wynd has over 25 years’ experience in the power generation sector. Mike was the senior electrical engineer for ScottishPower Generation, then went to become the Engineering and Maintenance Manager for Longannet Power Station, which was a 2400MW coal fired power station. He then became the ScottishPower Generation Chief Engineer and moved to the regulated business of ScottishPower, covering the Transmission and Distribution sectors. This included managing the telecoms, real time systems and cyber security for an electrical network supplying more than 5 million customers. Following a brief experience in the transport sector for Network Rail, Mike joined Drax in 2021 as the Head of Hydro.

Lucas Kunz: Lead Expert Engineer, Voith Hydro

Mr. Kunz was appointed to the position of Lead Expert Engineering in a new global modernization team to ensure global expertise and selected project support is applied across all Voith regions. He has worked with Voith Hydro, Inc. since 1986 and has been working in the hydroelectric power industry for 33 years, specifically in the electrical machinery industry.

Mr. Kunz earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1986 from Escola Federal de Engenharia de Itajuba (EFEI) in Minas Gerais, Brazil and a postgraduate degree in  Energy Management in 1998 from Mackenzie, Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1986, Mr. Kunz began his professional career as a Trainee in the Mechanical Engineering Department, working at Siemens S.A., Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1987, he was appointed as a Mechanical Engineer, working at Siemens S.A., responsible for designing mechanical main components for new projects, development of application software and execution of basic mechanical design for proposals.

In 1995, Mr. Kunz was designated Project Leader, working at Siemens Ltda., Brazil, responsible for the entire engineering activity of the generator business, including proposal engineering, contract engineering and field installation, acting as a technical leader. Mr. Kunz was the Voith Hydro lead engineer for 16 successful projects in a ten year time span. The most notable projects were the Three Gorges Project in China (840 MVA, 20 kV, 75 rpm); the Shahid Abbaspour in Iran (298 MVA, 15.75 kV, 187.5 rpm) and the pump storage plant Venda Nova in Portugal (103 MVA, 11 kV, 600 rpm).

From 2002 and during a period of 2 ½ years, Mr. Kunz was Head of Engineering, working at Voith Hydro, Inc. Shanghai, responsible for the entire engineering activity of the turbine and generator business, including proposal engineering, contract engineering and field installation. In 2018, Mr. Kunz was appointed to the position of Head of Engineering, working at
Voith Hydro, Inc., York, PA, responsible for the integration and optimization of the entire Hydro Power Unit in North America and leading a team of near 80 employees in US and
CA offices.

In the last sixteen years, Mr. Kunz has led the Voith Hydro, York, team in performing several generator modernization projects in North America such as Conowingo/Exelon, Noxon Rapids/Avista, Wheeler/TVA, Safe Harbor, Robert Moses/NYPA and Bath County/Dominion. He has also led the teams in the new wave of North American projects, including Holtwood/PPL, Cheoah/Alcoa, Bridgewater/Duke, Red Rock/MRES and the Ohio River/AMP bulb unit projects.

Mr. Kunz reads, writes and speaks German, English, Spanish and Portuguese (mother tongue). In his free time, Mr. Kunz loves outdoor activities and practice mountain bike regularly. Mr. Kunz was born in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and become naturalized American.

Kate Gilmartin: CEO, British Hydropower Association

Kate has recently taken over as the role of CEO of the British Hydropower Association.

As a long-time campaigner and supporter of the Hydropower industry and having voluntarily managed the Micro Hydro Association and coordinated the Community Hydro Forum for over 10 years, Kate is bringing her low carbon technical a lobbying experience to the role.

With a BSc in Fuel & Energy and an MSc in Renewable Energy, Kate has experience and expertise across all renewable energy technologies and a passion for delivering net-zero.

Kate believes that not only is net-zero of strategic importance, in terms of CO2 savings and climate change mitigation, but also with the increased urgency around the UK's Energy security, added to the pressing requirement to dramatically reduce the cost of energy and alleviate the pressure of current price shocks.

David Menmuir: Principal Process Engineer – Energy Transition, AECOM

David Menmuir is a Chartered Chemical Engineer with over 15 years of consultancy and project management experience gained in the energy industry. He has worked with a wide range of low carbon technologies including carbon capture and storage, energy from waste, renewable power generation, gasification, anaerobic digestion and hydrogen.

He has strong technical knowledge across multiple engineering disciplines gained by managing projects, providing technical leadership, and coordinating varied inputs. David has previously been involved in all stages of project development including feasibility analysis, equipment specification, contractor procurement, design review, due diligence and financing, construction, commissioning, and testing. 

Elena Vagnoni: Head of Research Project Group, EPFL Technology Platform for Hydraulic Machines

Graduated from Politecnico di Milano, she joined the EPFL Laboratory for Hydraulic Machines in 2014 to obtain her PhD in Mechanics, and she completed her doctoral studies in August 2018. Since 2022, she is lecturer and head of the projects group at EPFL in the Technology Platform for Hydraulic Machines leading the research team and scientific projects. In particular, she performs and supervises the research activities related to the development of frameworks to extend hydraulic machines flexibility and optimize their use under different grid scenarios.

Jamie Maule: Research Analyst, Cornwall Insight

After achieving his Bachelor of Arts in History and Law – with an express interest in environmental law – from the University of Strathclyde, Jamie Maule joined Cornwall Insight where he took on the role of research analyst. As part of the research team, he uses his knowledge of the UK energy market to author insight papers, blogs, and articles, adding to the conversation on a range of vital issues. Alongside this, he is a frequent contributor to Cornwall Insight’s flagship publication, Energy Spectrum, occasionally authoring the headline article.

Arwel Williams: Lead Mechanical Engineer, First Hydro Company

Arwel Williams is a Lead Mechanical Engineer at First Hydro Co. (Joint Venture ownership by ENGIE and Brookfield Renewables). Arwel started with the company in 2001 where he has undertaken several roles within Maintenance, Operations and Engineering Departments. Arwel had a degree in Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering, his achievements in Mechanical Engineering include undertaking studies, such as, remnant life investigations, comprising of FEA, fatigue analysis and fracture mechanics of inbuilt components and developing processes for remedial repairs to extend the remnant life. For turbine design and hydraulic performance, he has developed specifications, agreed designs, witnessed and approved model testing for both Dinorwig and Ffestiniog runners and turbines. Arwel was the Lead Turbine Mechanical Engineer for the replanting of Ffestiniog Units 1 and 2. He had oversite of the specification, design, dismantling, refurbishment, Installation and commissioning of the turbines, storage pump and generators.  He is currently the Technical Project Manager for Ffestiniog Stage 3 project, which is the replanting of the final two units (Units 3 & 4).