Joining Reheat as a Renewable Energy Consultant, Dr Oisín de Priall talks about his career in bioenergy

"I felt I could make a difference and I really wanted to join a good company in order to apply my skills"

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I hail from the Republic of Ireland, where I studied Environmental Science and Health at Dublin City University. I then spent two years working as a Research and Development Scientist, in the area of waste energy systems, specifically researching viable biomass feedstock applications in organic waste to energy systems.

I honed this specialism in biomass when joining Ulster University as a Research Associate where I focused on the application of sustainable, underutilised biomass fuels. My work was to investigate alternatives feedstocks to wood chip and pellets for new boilers, such as mushroom compost, agricultural waste, and arboriculture arisings.

I was quantifying and analysing materials to look at their bioenergy potential and undertook a 2-year project that engaged with industry, relevant stakeholders and producers to look at energetic and economic feasibility, policy and legislation.

This led to my PhD, a performance study into gasification of waste for combined heat and power plants from underutilised biomass, such as poultry waste material. My research also looked at how environmentally and financially sustainable this process could be compared to gas and electricity from the grid.

Having completed my PhD, it made me feel I could make a difference and I really wanted to join a good company in order to apply my skills, so when I became aware of the consultancy role at Reheat, I was really keen to apply. This was especially the case as many of my peers already knew of Reheat and the great work they do which encouraged me to put my name forward.

My role as a Renewable Energy Consultant enables me to apply my technical knowledge to the major areas that Reheat are working across, such as fuel quality, the potential for better utilising waste wood for conversion processes, community energy and heat network efficiency.

Joining Reheat also meant relocating with my fiancée from Belfast to Northumberland - the rural aspect of which comes with the territory of bioenergy. We have settled in the market town of Morpeth which gives us great access to Alnwick, Newcastle, and the beautiful coastline too, so it’s a very different setting, but we’re really pleased to be here!