Four Engineering students have successfully completed summer internships in renewable energy and clean tech with Ameresco.

All the students were working on Ameresco’s London Stadium Solar Roof Project. Nasir Ali, a Chemical Engineering student, and Limbani Mdebwe, who studies Materials Science and Engineering, worked in the Engineering team. Whilst Hameem Ahmed, who has now graduated from Chemical Engineering, and Joshua Darkwa who was studying Sustainable Energy Engineering MSc, worked with Operations & Maintenance and Verification & Measurement.

All four worked full time for five weeks from mid-June. This opportunity follows on from an engaging day for our students, led by the Ameresco team in which they discussed their solar project at the London Stadium including a tour of the venue and its rooftop.

Jade Fung, Social Value Coordinator at Ameresco UK, said “All four interns were selected following a site visit last year, a brilliant example of social value in action!”

Nasir reflected on the internship saying “I was able to work on lots of projects, contribute real work, attend site visits, and gain access to information that cannot be obtained through studying and reading online. From the first day I was trusted with tasks, which meant I had to learn on the go. It helped accelerate the overall learning process and felt organic.”

Limbani said "The internship at Ameresco was ideally timed as I am interested in working in the energy sector post-graduation. Having the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and witnessing the technical side of the energy projects Ameresco is working on, has taught me a lot. Especially, how my engineering background can play a critical role. Furthermore, the experience has reinforced my conviction to enter the energy sector"

Joshua said “The London Stadium solar PV project showed me how classroom learning can translate into real-world sustainable energy solutions, with my internship at Ameresco giving me the chance to contribute to working on one of the UK’s landmark renewable installations.”

Gary Kristensen MBE, Performance Services Director at Ameresco said “Hameem Ahmed and Joshua Darkwa worked with the O&M and M&V Team and have certainly been seeing the highs...from the rooftop Solar pv system we have installed on London Stadium...getting their hands dirty doing some panel cleaning and checking out the detailed design, fixtures, fittings, construction methodology and potential and actual failure modes."

Mr Kristensen was so impressed with Joshua and Hameem that he has extended their contracts for a further two and three months respectively. "We have two very bright, intelligent and motivated individuals on our hands."