Buzzed on energy
The co-founder of Energy Action Partners, Ayu Abdullah is an aerospace engineer focused on developing communities through sustainable energy systems, writes Oon Yeoh
AYU Abdullah may not be a household name but she’s one of the most accomplished women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). With two Master’s degrees — in Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Systems and Management — she’s the only Malaysian to have been chosen for the US State Department’s inaugural “Hidden No More: Empowering Leaders in STEM” International Visitor Leadership Programme in 2017.
“Hidden No More” was inspired by the 2016 movie Hidden Figures, about pioneering African-American women at Nasa in the 1960s, who played crucial roles in the US space programme.
Ayu is co-founder of Energy Action Partners (www.enactpartners.org), a non-profit organisation that partners with communities, project developers and other stakeholders to plan, deploy and manage sustainable energy systems that contribute to the holistic development of a community.
AEROSPACE ENGINEERING IS A
RARE SUBJECT FOR A MALAYSIAN TO STUDY. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS?
Growing up, I watched a lot of science fiction movies. I’m a big fan of Stars Wars and Star Trek movies. I’ve always been fascinated with space and I liked the idea of space travel.
DID YOU EVER ASPIRE TO BECOME AN ASTRONAUT?
I think everyone who goes into aerospace secretly wants to be an astronaut. So, yes, I’d say a part of me wanted that.
But when you’re in a classroom full of people, all wanting to become astronauts, you realise very quickly that this might not be what you really want to do. I looked around me and realised that I didn’t want it as bad as many of the others.
Some were willing to move to a new country and change their citizenship if it meant that it’d give them a better shot at going into space. I love the idea of space travel but I wasn’t prepared to do those kinds of things or make those kinds of sacrifices.
BUT EVEN IF YOU COULDN’T BE AN ASTRONAUT, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN AN AEROSPACE ENGINEER. WHAT MADE YOU SWITCH TO THE ENERGY FIELD?
After my Master’s, I worked on my PhD. My specialisation was in orbital mechanics, basically designing orbits for space flights.
After a year, I looked at my research and realised that there’s no application for this out there unless I worked for Nasa. I was also at a point in my life where I felt I could be doing more on Earth.
I decided to take some time off and became a teacher at the Abaarso School of Science and Technology in Somaliland, Africa.
When I was there, they were trying to put together a wind turbine. Since I had an engineering background, I was tasked with the first phase of that project. I got to know a lot of NGOs involved in energy access, international development and engineering, and through my interaction with them, I realised these were the areas I wanted to get into.
So I went to the UAE to pursue a second Master’s degree, in engineering systems and management, focusing on community energy systems.
WHY THE UAE?
I’d reached out to various companies and research institutes to apply for short stints, and a professor from the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (in UAE) responded.
A lot of people don’t know this but Abu Dhabi has actually invested heavily in renewable energy.
WHAT DID YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOUR STINT IN SOMALILAND AND THE UAE?
Like most Malaysian parents they did say things like “Why don’t you just come home and get a job here?” But they didn’t object to me pursuing what I really wanted to do.
SO, YOUR PARENTS WERE PRETTY PROGRESSIVE?
My parents generally gave me a lot of freedom. My father was an academic and he understood that there were some things I needed to decide on my own.
AS SOMEONE WHO HAS ACCOMPLISHED A LOT IN STEM, DO YOU FEEL THERE’S MORE WE COULD DO TO ENCOURAGE GIRLS TO GO INTO STEM?
Actually, that’s not such a big problem here in Malaysia. In the West, there’s a lot of discussion about how to get girls interested in science but in Malaysia we don’t really have that problem because our school system has a Science stream and lots of girls go into that.
At the university level, we see lots of girls pursuing STEM-related degrees. Our problem is that we can’t keep women in STEM jobs. They tend to drop out after they get married and have children. So that’s something we need to address.
WHAT DOES ENERGY ACTION PARTNERS DO?
We’re a non-profit organisation in the energy access space. We focus on community development through energy. For example, we ensure that electricity has an impact on community development through good management structures.
HOW DO YOU DO THAT?
We have a tool called the Minigrid Game (www.theminigridgame.org) which is a roleplaying game built around a representation of a minigrid system. It’s meant to be used as an educational and collaborative planning tool for designing a community-sized minigrid system.
Networked players come together to play out household consumption and make important energy choices, like purchasing appliances, setting energy tariffs, and managing finances to pay their bills on time.
Players’ individual behaviour, like switching appliances on and off, or failing to make a payment, are immediately visible to everyone else.
The game is cooperative, and can only be won when the community decides on an appropriately-sized system, sets a tariff that pays for its cost, and consumes an amount of energy within the limited capacity.
The Minigrid Game is a completely novel way for communities to develop workable solutions to the unique challenges of managing a community minigrid, such as system sizing, tariff-setting, and demandside management.
EVER THOUGHT OF DOING A COMMERCIAL BUSINESS RATHER THAN A NON-PROFIT?
A part of me wants to do that but right now I have to give all my attention to Energy Action Partners. It’s a non-profit but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to generate income. And it doesn’t mean the people involved don’t get paid. A lot of people misunderstand the concept of “non-profit”. They think it means we volunteer our time for free. Not many people can afford to work for free. It shouldn’t be that the only way you can get a decent paying job is to work for a profit-making corporation. Working for non-profits can be a serious career option too.
IF YOUR CHILD GREW UP WANTING TO BE AN INVESTMENT BANKER, WOULD THAT BE ACCEPTABLE TO YOU?
I wouldn’t be thrilled at the idea but I have to accept that he might not choose a job that serves other people. He might choose a profession that simply earns a lot of money.
But a person’s life is more than just their job, right? For example, he could be an investment banker who does good things with his money.