Kildare engineer to chair international think tank
Kildare town engineer Conor Mulholland
AN engineer from Kildare has been appointed to chair an international committee of young professionals to share expertise from power systems across the world.
Conor Mulholland (27), a native of Kildare town and a TU Dublin graduate, is a senior project engineer with electricity grid operator EirGrid, and will take up the position of chair of the Next Generation Network section of the France-based body CIGRE.
Mulholland will take up chairmanship for a period of two years following his election to the position by all 37 voting countries, and his appointment will be officially ratified at a CIGRE conference in Paris this week.
He will be the first ever Irish chair of the Next Generation Network section, which will involve overseeing bi-monthly meetings of committee members from some of the world’s most advanced power systems, as well as regular interactions with the influential steering committee of the broader CIGRE collective.
“It’s really good news for Ireland and EirGrid because it puts us at the heart of an international network of young professionals, and shows that we’re at the forefront of driving technological advancement and power system knowledge-sharing,” Mulholland (27) said of his appointment.
“We currently have 43 countries represented at the moment, including the US, UK and Australia, which allows for valuable knowledge sharing.
“We’ve recently welcomed new members including from Belgium, Chile and Argentina, but there is definitely further potential to expand and that’s something I want to prioritise during my time as chair, so that we can add further expertise from different regions,” he added.
Mulholland also namechecks offshore renewable energy as a huge growth area where Ireland can learn from a wealth of existing international experience.
His role in EirGrid involves overseeing the connection of renewable energy projects, as well as projects vital to ensuring security of supply for Ireland’s electricity grid.
“I joined EirGrid through the graduate programme after graduating in 2019. Soon after that I got involved with CIGRE’s Next Generation Network committee in Ireland, which is open to young professionals under the age of 35 from organisations across the power system, including system operators and private companies,” said Mulholland.
“My EirGrid colleague Marta Val Escudero is also the current chair of a CIGRE study committees, so these are two key positions which puts Ireland in a fantastic place right at the centre of power system development globally.” In its role as Transmission System Operator, EirGrid is aiming to transform the electricity grid to make it renewable-ready, in line with Ireland’s Climate Action Plan commitments.
