Qualified employees are indispensable for an international association dealing with the generation and storage of electricity, heat and sector coupling, in order to fulfil the tasks and projects according to members´ needs and for the benefit of the entire industry. For the successful realisation of our extensive activities, which cover all technologies and the entire range in connection with secure, low-emission and permit-compliant energy supply, we need employees with proven expertise. With the bundled vgbe know-how, we will master the upcoming tasks and challenges together with the vgbe community. We are pleased that we have been able to recruit three new employees for our exciting tasks, who will strengthen our technical competence centres with their expertise.
New officers for health and safety, wind and hydropower
Already in October 2021, Dr Gregor Lipinski succeeded Dipl.-Ing. Guido Schwabe in the area of “Health and Safety”.
Dr Gregor Lipinski completed his chemistry studies at the Ruhr University Bochum with a Bachelor’s degree (B.Sc.) and then continued his studies with a Master’s degree (M.Sc.) in the field of “inorganic chemistry” with his thesis on “Crystallisation and co-crystallisation behaviour of substituted cyanopyridines”. Gregor Lipinski continued his academic career with his doctorate in mechanical engineering at the Ruhr University Bochum and the Chemnitz University of Technology on the topic “Development of new spectroscopic measurement methods for gas separation processes”.
With the issue “Health and Safety”, Dr. Lipinski takes on cross-sectional tasks for all areas of technology represented by vgbe – wind energy, hydropower, future energy systems, solid and gaseous fuels and nuclear energy. In addition, he is in charge of the SeSaM database for service provider qualification, in which potential contractors who meet the high legal and operator requirements in the areas of occupational health and safety and environmental protection are listed after prior successful examination by vgbe. Gregor Lipinski is also the contact person for the vgbe Safety & Health Award and for the vgbe workshop for occupational physicians who offer medical screening for offshore workplaces.
However, occupational health and safety are not only high on vgbe’s agenda regarding the association´s activities, but also within our offices. Accordingly, Dr Gregor Lipinski is also the Safety and Health as well as Pandemic Officer at vgbe energy e.V. and vgbe energy service GmbH.
Since June 1, 2022, vgbe has also been able to strengthen the areas of wind energy and hydropower:
Robert Rogotzki has succeeded Dipl.-Ing. Ulrich Langnickel as expert in the wind energy division.
As an industrial engineer for energy systems, Robert Rogotzki is an expert in energy supply technologies. Through his inter- and transdisciplinary studies at the Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences in Bottrop, Robert Rogotzki has dealt with both the engineering and the economic and socio-political issues of the energy transition.
During his studies, Robert Rogotzki worked as research assistant at the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology and supported projects in the field of municipal energy supply and the transformation of municipal utilities.
Not least due to his master’s thesis on the topic “Analysis of the deviation between the standard report and measurement data due to the wake effects in a wind farm”, Robert Rogotzki is a qualified expert for the wind energy sector.
Robert Rogotzki will initiate new activities and projects and will further develop current projects such as the database “Wind Power Performance Data Exchange – WiPPeX”, which is used by wind turbines operators to analyse and evaluate operating data with regard to turbine availability and performance behaviour.
For the hydropower sector, vgbe was also able to recruit a new expert as of June 1, 2022. Lee Estrellado is an internationally experienced expert in the field of renewable energies with a focus on hydropower.
After graduating from Lehigh University, P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science with a Bachelor of Science degree, Lee Estrellado had worked as a project engineer in the field of hydrology in the USA. There he had dealt with hydrological and hydraulic studies and reports for different public administrations.
Lee Estrellado continued his academic career at the Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, where he successfully completed his Master of Science thesis on “Overland Flow and Sediment Transport in High-Alpine Regions and its Effect on Future Hydropower Production” in the Department of Renewable Energy and Management.
Parallel to his master’s degree, he worked at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems as research assistant monitoring photovoltaic systems.
Thanks to his academic and professional career and his international experience, the association has been able to gain an outstanding expert in the field of hydropower who will also contribute his expertise to the establishment of a vgbe Technical Committee “Photovoltaics” within the Technical Competence Centre “Future Energy Systems”.
The shortage of skilled staff and the search for suitable personnel are increasingly becoming a determining factor with great influence on the competitiveness of companies. For a long time, the vgbe group has been involved in the education and networking of prospective engineers and offers, for example, free admission to vgbe events to ordinary students and organises the vgbe Students´ Summer School together with the scientific advisory board of VGB-FORSCHUNGSSTIFTUNG.
The vgbe Group also assumes its corporate responsibility in the area of vocational training: On August 1, 2022, Thomas Nuttebaum started his training as a materials tester at the vgbe Technical Services within the “Materials Laboratory” department.
