b'22 Member News November 2019Member updatesSay hello to a new Fellow:Dr Biljana StojkovskaBiljana Stojkovska doesnt like inaccessible leaders.us closer to achieving zero carbon operation, reducing cost for consumers As an Innovation Project Manager for the Nationaland creating new opportunities for Grid, she wants to be a visible, approachable roledistributed energy businesses.model. And achieving IET Fellowship, she says, isBeyond the day job, Biljana brings her energy sector experience to one way of doing this. professional institutions. Shes founder and chair of CIGREs Womens Network Biljana is convinced that visible role modelsUK, which organises topical events, are important, as they can inspire youngmentoring and technical papers. At the IET, Biljana leads a working group on people to choose careers in engineering andIts the start of aenergy digitalisation and power grids, current engineers to continue developing.I always say we cannot be what we cannotnew chapter for me,sits on the energy sector committee see, she says. Not everyone reaches theand promotes events for the top, or wants to, but at least role models puthelping to rewrite theBirmingham and Midlands networks. you in the mindset that things are possible. future of engineering. Ready for recognitionEven now, leading a game-changing project for the National Grid and a multidisciplinaryEarlier this year, Biljana took stock team, Biljana has role models of her own.of her contributions and decided it Dame Fiona Woolf, an energy lawyer, sheWhat makes a Fellow was time to apply for Fellowship. Id says. The way she positions herself, the wayBiljana is in a position to inspire others,reached a point where I was confident she presents and talks is really inspirational.leading staff of various backgroundsthat Id contributed enough and that Id I always say to myself if I can have mybe recognised by the IET, she says. technical knowledge, plus her way of doing from technical to communications things, that would be excellent.to deliver the National Grids PowerBiljana also received encouragement Project. The project is exploring howfrom her colleagues, some of whom renewable energy resources connectedwere Fellows themselves and offered to distribution networks (known asto review her application. They Distributed Energy Resources) mightremoved everything in my application provide key services to transmissionthat was vague and abstract, she networks. Services include dynamicsays. Also, they suggested I present voltage control, meaning reactivemy evidence in terms of things that I power is supplied at short notice tohad done, rather than things Id done maintain voltage when there is a fault. as part of a team or organisation.The project is currently focusedBiljanas efforts paid off and she on South East England, where theachieved Fellowship in June 2019. network is at the limit of its capacityIts a considerable achievement in for importing and exporting powermy career, she says. And it provides from the rest of the transmissionopportunities to inspire other system. Its a complex and challengingengineers and drive initiatives that region for us to operate, says Biljana.change the engineering landscape. But we believe that renewableIts the start of a new chapter for energy resources could provideme, helping to rewrite the future of reactive power services to keep theengineering.grid stable and ensure power flows reliably to homes and business. If successful, the model could be rolledInterested in becoming a roleout across the country, bringingmodel and influencing the futureof engineering?Dr Biljana Stojkovska CEng FIET Find out more at: theiet.org/Fellows'