Student Intern Review

I began my placement with induction sessions in Warwick, including a SHINE session and an introduction to National Grid's business areas, before moving to Tipton for IT setup and meeting my buddy. I used my first week to build a full 8-week calendar and started reaching out to graduates to arrange shadowing opportunities across departments. My first hands-on experience was earth resistance testing,
placing meg-test pegs at various distances to calculate ground resistance. In my second week, I sat in on customer connection work, helping assess an upgrade request and weighing the cost and timeline trade-offs between a full three-phase upgrade and a simpler single-phase addition. I finalised five SMART
objectives with my line manager, went out mapping pole and overhead line GPS locations into EMU, and reached out to arrange shadowing with the NGET drone inspection team. I also attended the IET Power Academy conference, taking part in technical talks, workshops, and networking with other engineers. Week three was more technical. I worked through Company Directives on helicopter inspections and overhead line clearances, completed a Helicopter Inspections CBT, and started both an LTspice transmission line simulation exercise and the Altium Designer PCB course. I learned how pole height and clearance calculations feed into the EMU system, and studied Low Carbon Technology (LCT) connection assessments, including G99/G100 compliance and SGI2/SGI3 generation thresholds. I spent two days on-site with an overhead line team doing pole changes and insulator work, taking part in switching, PME earthing, and helical tie installation, and I learned how ring/loop network topology, back-feeding, and field control handover work. I also requested access to CROWN and STARS and began AutoCAD training. In week four, I went to Ammanford grid in Swansea, helping apply PCMEs and danger notices, while learning how outage planning and multi-site switching coordination is managed. At Lime Street substation I went through a full protection testing session, covering CT and VT ratio/polarity checks, relay pickup and drop-off testing, distance protection, and overcurrent and earth fault protection, including helping identify a genuine test discrepancy. I also learned ring-main and back-feed theory and cable sizing constraints. Later that week, I helped with an overhead line replacement at Chagford, swapping copper for ABC aluminium cable using a winch and pulley system, and I spent the end of the week preparing my Interim Review. Week five was my Engineering Design placement. I completed the trainee tasks, using AutoCAD to design a new 33/11kV primary substation, producing layouts and a single-line diagram for "Browns Substation." I learned about transformer isolation and earth fault protection, the difference between isolators and circuit breakers, and how Neutral Earthing Resistors work. I visited Avonbank feeder road and had an in- depth session with a protection engineer covering 11kV distribution protection philosophy: fuse versus earth-type protection, split-ring radial operation, why distance and differential protection aren't used on 11kV or underground circuits, IDMT theory including curve types and grading margins, auto-reclose sequencing,
and the differences between electromechanical and digital relays. I finished the week with an overview of the Primary Network Design team and more single-line drawing work for Paulton Sub. In week six, I continued the Altium PCB course, completing a four-layer stack routing exercise, building a bill of materials, and starting a new custom PCB, while connecting the electronics concepts back to power network principles like interference and transmission-line behaviour. I helped with overhead conductor
replacement using winch and brake tensioning, completed my Interim Review, and joined pole inspections with a colleague, learning how pole condition is classified and how clearance and vegetation checks are carried out. I wrote and completed my Protection Engineering report, drawing on everything I'd learned from previous weeks and conversations with protection specialists, sent my protection report to the
protection engineer at Avonbank for validation. and had Q&A sessions with colleagues in Innovation and Project Engineering. Throughout the placement, I've focused on being proactive about my own learning,
reaching out to different teams, and building a broad picture of how National Grid's operational, design, and protection functions fit together.

I began my placement with induction sessions in Warwick, including a SHINE session and an introduction to National Grid's business areas, before moving to Tipton for IT setup and meeting my buddy. I used my first week to build a full 8-week calendar and started reaching out to graduates to arrange shadowing opportunities across departments. My first hands-on experience was earth resistance testing, placing meg-test pegs at various distances to calculate ground resistance.
In my second week, I sat in on customer connection work, helping assess an upgrade request and weighing the cost and timeline trade-offs between a full three-phase upgrade and a simpler single-phase addition. I finalised five SMART objectives with my line manager, went out mapping pole and overhead line GPS locations into EMU, and reached out to arrange shadowing with the NGET drone inspection team. I also attended the IET Power Academy conference, taking part in technical talks, workshops, and networking with other engineers.
Week three was more technical. I worked through Company Directives on helicopter inspections and overhead line clearances, completed a Helicopter Inspections CBT, and started both an LTspice transmission line simulation exercise and the Altium Designer PCB course. I learned how pole height and clearance calculations feed into the EMU system, and studied Low Carbon Technology (LCT) connection assessments, including G99/G100 compliance and SGI2/SGI3 generation thresholds. I spent two days on-site with an overhead line team doing pole changes and insulator work, taking part in switching, PME earthing, and helical tie installation, and I learned how ring/loop network topology, back-feeding, and field control handover work. I also requested access to CROWN and STARS and began AutoCAD training.
In week four, I went to Ammanford grid in Swansea, helping apply PCMEs and danger notices, while learning how outage planning and multi-site switching coordination is managed. At Lime Street substation I went through a full protection testing session, covering CT and VT ratio/polarity checks, relay pickup and drop-off testing, distance protection, and overcurrent and earth fault protection, including helping identify a genuine test discrepancy. I also learned ring-main and back-feed theory and cable sizing constraints. Later that week, I helped with an overhead line replacement at Chagford, swapping copper for ABC aluminium cable using a winch and pulley system, and I spent the end of the week preparing my Interim Review.
Week five was my Engineering Design placement. I completed the trainee tasks, using AutoCAD to design a new 33/11kV primary substation, producing layouts and a single-line diagram for "Browns Substation." I learned about transformer isolation and earth fault protection, the difference between isolators and circuit breakers, and how Neutral Earthing Resistors work. I visited Avonbank feeder road and had an in-depth session with a protection engineer covering 11kV distribution protection philosophy: fuse versus earth-type protection, split-ring radial operation, why distance and differential protection aren't used on 11kV or underground circuits, IDMT theory including curve types and grading margins, auto-reclose sequencing, and the differences between electromechanical and digital relays. I finished the week with an overview of the Primary Network Design team and more single-line drawing work for Paulton Sub.
In week six, I continued the Altium PCB course, completing a four-layer stack routing exercise, building a bill of materials, and starting a new custom PCB, while connecting the electronics concepts back to power network principles like interference and transmission-line behaviour. I helped with overhead conductor replacement using winch and brake tensioning, completed my Interim Review, and joined pole inspections with a colleague, learning how pole condition is classified and how clearance and vegetation checks are carried out. I wrote and completed my Protection Engineering report, drawing on everything I'd learned from previous weeks and conversations with protection specialists, sent my protection report to the protection engineer at Avonbank for validation, and had Q&A sessions with colleagues in Innovation and Project Engineering.
Throughout the placement, I've focused on being proactive about my own learning, reaching out to different teams, and building a broad picture of how National Grid's operational, design, and protection functions fit together.

Throughout the placement, I significantly expanded my technical, operational, and professional skillset across power distribution and protection engineering. On the technical side, I advanced from theoretical principles to hands-on testing, conducting CT/VT ratio and polarity checks, relay pickup/drop-off evaluations, and overcurrent, distance, and earth-fault protection testing at live substations. I deepened my knowledge of 11kV/33kV distribution philosophy, IDMT curve grading margins, split-ring radial operation, and Low Carbon Technology connection compliance under G99/G100 frameworks. In engineering design, I developed proficiency in AutoCAD by drafting single-line diagrams and primary substation layouts, mapped physical network assets in EMU, and advanced my circuit design capabilities through Altium PCB multi-layer routing and LTspice simulations. Field operations strengthened my practical understanding of overhead line mechanics, switching coordination, back-feeding, and earthing safety protocols like PME and PCME application. Complementing these technical milestones, I honed core professional skills in proactive cross-team stakeholder engagement, structured SMART objective tracking, and formal technical communication by authoring a validated Protection Engineering report.

I received an extensive amount of structured support and practical mentorship throughout my placement, starting directly with the Early Careers team. From the initial Warwick induction and SHINE programme to the allocation of a dedicated buddy at Tipton, the Early Careers network provided a solid foundation that made navigating the business seamless. My line manager offered continuous guidance, helping me define five clear SMART objectives and reviewing my milestones during the Interim Review. Across technical departments, senior engineers and field teams were highly accessible and willing to share their expertise—whether guiding me through overhead line mechanics and live switching safety on-site, walking me through primary substation design in AutoCAD, or providing detailed feedback to validate my formal Protection Engineering report.

The company culture was safety-focused, highly collaborative, and technically rigorous. In operational and substation environments, safety was the overriding priority, reinforced by clear procedures, formal handovers, and an environment where thorough checks and identifying discrepancies were actively encouraged. Across the office, design, and field environments, the atmosphere was exceptionally supportive; experienced engineers, line managers, and graduates were approachable and invested in knowledge-sharing, taking the time to explain intricate distribution philosophies and validate technical work. At the same time, the broader work environment carried a clear forward-looking purpose, with a strong focus on engineering precision, continuous learning, and adapting the network for future low-carbon technologies.

Alot

Yes