“I had a great final day as I got to visit a solar farm in Berwick where I got to see the scale and characteristics of the solar panels, rounding up my understanding and everything else OVESCO taught me”.
My work experience at OVESCO started at the office in Lewes where Chris introduced me to Julie, Nick, Claire and Julie at Lewes house. Everyone was very nice and welcoming, I was given my own space and laptop to tick off tasks I’d be given. As well as the office, OVESCO also has a space in Lewes house which is decorated with informative posters and leaflets. Tuesday involved me going to this advice room and listen to a general meeting with three workers at OVESCO discussing current and future plans including events in Peacehaven, allowing me to gain a better understanding of how to save money on your energy bills, making your house warmer or installing solar panels. After this I went back to the office to prepare some fact sheets about how many watts household appliances require which will be used for trips to schools and demonstrating through a bike how much energy 200 watts is for example. Working in the office, allowed me to witness phone calls, emails and internal discussions that all aim to improve OVESCO.
The next day, I arrived at the OVESCO office where I met more workers at OVESCO. I then finished up the rest of the information cards that needed to be done for the upcoming school event at Pound Hill Academy in Crawley. Then I attended another meeting this time involving Chris and Patrick calling Rowland who is a consultant and helps to create plans and proposals. After, I went back to the office where I met Frank who taught me all about the software used to draw up plans for fitting solar panels as well as a first draft of what a project would look like. Being talked through this process I realised how complicated the software and process is and how people at OVESCO have a very good understanding of new technologies. I also realised how informative the advice given to anyone looking to lower energy bills with the cost of living crisis was and also how this would make your house warmer. It’s when you talk to the people at OVESCO that you realise how good and helpful they are!
Thursday 29th June was filming day for the South Downs National Park who came to create a film all about OVESCO. I met the two guys from national park at Lewes house and watched Chris being interviewed about the goals of OVESCO, what projects they’ve done and the future of OVESCO. Then I witnessed some of the Energy Champions being filmed, observing these interviews enforced the point about how knowledgeable everyone is as well as being informed on how they make a difference. Then came the moment where I was filmed pedalling the bike I previously mentioned producing energy. Next, we went to Harvey’s depot where I got to go up to the roof with the film crew, Chris and Nick where we got shots of the multiple solar panels installed by OVESCO on top of the roof. The final spot we went to for the film was Barcombe nurseries where OVESCO has also installed solar panels which power the whole business which delivers fresh vegetable boxes to your house sustainably.
On Friday it was my last day of work experience at OVESCO, and it was a great final day as I got to visit a solar farm in Berwick where I actually got to see the scale and characteristics of a solar farm and solar panels which rounded up my understanding of solar panels and everything else OVESCO taught me.
Overall, my time spent doing work experience at OVESCO has been very good, interesting and useful as moving forward I want to go to university and study environmental management or sustainability, so being at a OVESCO is a great experience to have for that.
