[Header image: Hannah and the 2024 graduate cohort]

“The Vacation Program helped me see what engineering is,” said Hannah.  

Lake Plimsoll on Tasmania's West Coast

"Before going on placement, I didn’t have a good picture of what a job as an engineer could look like. The Vacation Program was an awesome way to get insight into this."

“It’s easier to think about, plan and make decisions about your future if you know what it could look like!” Our Vacation Program enables students to apply their university theory to real-world projects, alongside experts and professionals in renewable energy. “It is cool to see your ideas being put into practice,” said Hannah. The Vacation program offers an opportunity to work on planning our maintenance and upgrade projects, but also see the end-product come to life!  
 

“Whether it’s a solution for an oil level sensor which isn’t responding in real time, or a machine that needed changes made to its cooling water system to be able to run in synchronous condenser mode to support the stability of the electricity system, it’s all great experience to apply what we learn at university.” 

Inside Tarraleah Power Station

"It was a really good mix of time in the office and on site!"

The Vacation Program runs for 13 weeks from November through to February each year. Luckily for our Student Engineers, this coincides with the warmest weather in Tassie, resulting in some exciting opportunities to travel to our hydropower stations across Tasmania! “It was awesome to get hands on… climbing around inside the machines to install sensors. The engineers who I travelled with were always happy to answer all my questions and explain how everything works”.  

"The energy industry is an interesting industry to be working in, especially now with so much changing. The transition to renewables in Australia is going to require some huge changes within our electricity market and its cool to be involved in."

Lake Mackintosh and Mackintosh Power Station