Women of Meridian - Clare Paynter

In 1987, 13 solar powered cars designed by automobile manufacturers, universities, energy labs, and even a high school, gathered in Darwin at the start line of one of the world’s most epic races – a 3022km trek across Australia’s outback to Adelaide.

General Motors’ entry Sunraycer completed the journey in just over 44 hours to be crowned the winner of the inaugural World Solar Challenge, blazing a trail in an iconic event that is still going strong today.

Growing up in Darwin in Australia’s rugged, remote Northern Territory, Meridian Energy senior electrical engineer Clare Paynter was fascinated by the race that came town every two years.

Her family would head along to check out race cars that were remarkable feats of engineering, with Clare picturing herself behind the steering wheel.

That dream came to fruition in 2007 when Clare’s high school entered the race using a car donated by Northern Territory’s Charles Darwin University.

The vehicle wasn’t overly competitive – but that didn’t matter.

“We drove at 30 kilometres an hour for some parts of it, but we made it to the finish line!” recalls Clare, who as a teenager was already laser-focused on carving out a career in the renewable energy industry.

“How can you be exposed to that sort of thing and not want to go down that pathway?”

After high school, Clare studied systems engineering focussing on renewable energy (with an Arts degree majoring in political science on the side) at the Australian National University in Canberra.

She spent a summer vacation working for technology company ABB integrating renewables into diesel mini grids in remote outback locations, and interned in the sustainable energy section of Darwin’s utility company.

“The Northern Territory is a really remote place, and so renewables have made a lot of sense there for a really long time, as they have in other challenging parts of the world,” she says.

Clare credits the three years she spent in the graduate programme of Australian’s energy market operator AEMO with setting her on her ultimate career path.

“It was just the most amazingly organised programme. It forced you into different directions rather than letting you know what was good for you.

“And it was an incredibly tumultuous time in the Australian energy industry. There was a 12-month period where the whole of South Australia went black - like a massive blackout.

“Partly it was caused by storms, but also some really particular settings on wind farms had an impact and it really caught the industry by surprise. 

“At the same time, the undersea power cable to Tasmania got cut. Tasmania almost ran out of hydropower and they had to start importing every diesel generator known to man and had diesel trucks circulating the state.

“Those two things happening in close succession, it was like, ‘wow, there is so much work to be done.” 

In terms of contrasts, Clare’s next two roles were, well, extreme. 

She spent four years in Alice Springs battling oppressive heat while working on the town’s renewable energy infrastructure, followed by 18 months helping to develop a wind farm intended to power Scott Base in Antarctica.

Now settled in Christchurch with her Kiwi partner and two children, Clare is enjoying the relatively temperate climate – and the challenges of her current role at Meridian focussing on asset management. 

“It's more interesting than I ever could have imagined it to be. There's no shortage of big, complex projects that you can try and make an impact on working alongside a whole bunch of enthusiastic people.

“For example, we're doing a replacement of excitation protection and circuit breakers at the Ōhau power stations in the coming years. That adds up to a pretty meaty number, and we don't want the cost to blow out.

“We know the outages are getting hard, so how can we keep them flexible? And how can we get the right people involved so that we mitigate some of the resourcing risks that we could otherwise face within Meridian?”

Ensuring that the voices of engineers are captured when projects are designed is a key focus.

“I just want to be able to stand back at the end of a project and say ‘you know, we set that up pretty well’.”

While emigrating to New Zealand wasn’t something she ever imagined doing, Clare has been blown away by the Kiwi lifestyle, particularly the outdoor recreation opportunities on her Canterbury doorstep.

Four-months pregnant with her second child when she applied for her role at Meridian, Clare has been hugely impressed with the supportive culture at the company.

She was assured her pending arrival and maternity leave wouldn’t be a factor in the selection process, and currently works a four-day week as she juggles family commitments alongside her career.

“That seems pretty normal in Meridian, which is amazing,” she says.

“Another thing I’ve noticed is the employee retention at Meridian. I have colleagues that have worked on assets for 46 years. It is just unparalleled to have access to brains that are that big and understand things so well.

“It's really different to the culture I've experienced elsewhere, particularly in Australia, where I think people feel they're lucky if you stay for three years.”

Timing, they say, is everything – and for someone with a passion for renewable energy and problem solving, the stars have aligned perfectly.

“Well, I guess I feel like I was born in just the right time,” says Clare.

“For 150 years the electricity system has operated in a reasonably similar way, right?

“And now we're in this massive state of flux. The role of an engineer has changed a lot as well. No longer can you stand within your big power station and make all of these executive decisions.

“Electricity is inherently decentralised now, and there are just so many more interesting conversations that stem from that.

“As engineers, we have to be a lot more holistic, because we've got to justify why a particular project we want to do stacks up against a whole host of other opportunities.”