Simon Harrison

What do you do at Mott MacDonald?

I am a Mott MacDonald Fellow with a focus on energy policy and infrastructure development. This means that I get to channel many years of experience in designing and advising on power systems into advising government and clients on engineering aspects of energy transition and sustainability. Recently this has included supporting the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero as a Clean Power Commissioner, and leading pivotal senior industry groups developing government policy.

Tell us about your career journey

I began my career as a lecturer in electrical engineering at the University of Southampton where I was studying for a PhD. I then went to work as a senior engineer with Mott MacDonald predecessor company Ewbank Preece. At the time this was one of the world’s leading power engineering consultancies and I had heard about their work in delivering power to millions of people in Bangladesh. The thought that I could apply my skills to something that had such a positive outcome for so many people really appealed to me. And so I worked on projects all over the world, from Argentina to Uzbekistan.

When the firm joined Mott MacDonald in 1994 I continued to work in power development gaining in seniority and often working directly with clients in an advisory capacity in solving their engineering problems, or understanding their risk exposure in taking on others’ solutions. Working more strategically enabled me to really understand some of the challenges facing the power sector and I began volunteering with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) to support the integration of engineering into public policy.

How do you contribute to Mott MacDonald making a difference to people and planet?

Engineers are uniquely placed to positively influence the lives of people and the wellbeing of the planet. We develop, design and implement the solutions that make the difference.  From my technical project work bringing electricity into communities for the first time, to shaping public policy on decarbonisation of systems I am very proud of the work that I do, and the incredible people that I get to work with.

Do you have a mantra you live by or that motivates you?

I find myself more and more motivated by creating positive impact, and it’s a huge privilege to work in a field and for a company that allows me to do that at scale.

Describe your role on a transformative project

As a volunteer for the Institution of Engineering and Technology I have contributed to a lot of their policy related work. Working with some of the best engineers from across the industry we produced a report called “Handling a Shock to the System” which explored the functionality needed for a transformed and decarbonised UK electricity system. The problem was crying out for a technical integrator to manage engineering integration of the system and we termed this a Systems Architect. The report caught the attention of the policy community, and over time and with continuing input the policy thinking developed such that a system architect role became part of the remit of the National Energy Systems Operator.

Another example was the work I co-chaired with Sir Patrick Vallance for the Royal Academy of Engineering, which set out to answer the question of how electricity decarbonisation could be radically accelerated, using the learning gained from the UK’s very rapid development of a Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic. This work was taken up by government to become the blueprint for its Clean Power 2030 Mission.