During his schooling years, Eduard considered careers that included veterinary science, physics, and accounting, but quickly discovered that these paths didn’t call to him in a way that prevailed.
“Even before I started studying engineering, I liked working on projects, and having a beginning, methodology and end result. When it came time to choose my degree, I decided to pursue mechanical engineering, as it is quite broad in its application and there were many opportunities in the field. I also had an interest in aeronautical engineering, which spurred dreams of one day designing aircrafts,” he relates.
Upon graduating with a BEng in Mechanical Engineering, Eduard's engineering path began with a job in the military sector at Tiyaga. While working on designing and optimising vehicles was interesting during his time with the company, this was not to be his final stop.
“Even though I was designing vehicles that would be used to protect soldiers, I felt I was still partaking in warfare. After a while I knew I wanted to make a broader and meaningful contribution to society, and to do that, I would need to study further,” he continues.
Eduard was accepted - with all tuition fees covered - to study aeronautical engineering at Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany. Keen to pursue the immense opportunity, Eduard and his wife were far along in uprooting their lives to relocate in Germany when their plans were derailed by the pandemic as Europe entered its stage 2 lockdown. At the time, Eduard’s visa application fell through and his wife – who had relocated earlier to start a new job – returned to South Africa a couple of weeks later.
However, determined to not become dismayed and driven to find his professional purpose, a documentary by David Attenborough drew Eduard’s attention to how mechanical engineering could be used in the energy space. This sparked a desire to contribute to sustainable development and led Eduard to further his education with full-time post-graduate studies at Stellenbosch for a year.
Upon completion of his Masters, he decided to enter the consulting space, to interact with a broad variety of stakeholders. This coincided with joining WSP in September 2022.
This desire for variety has been well fulfilled at WSP. His work ranges from technical advice projects, offering different points of view of the same project to different stakeholders and conducting feasibility studies to doing smaller commercial industrial projects. From work that takes him nearby, such as a project in Fourways Mall, to work that takes him further afield, such as the Northern and Eastern Cape, Eduard notes that the work is always stimulating.
One case in point is a project he is currently the project manager on, working on a utility-scale solar PV facility on the border between Gauteng and the Free State, wheeling renewable energy to one of South Africa’s largest industrial energy users as the primary offtaker. This, he explains, gives him the opportunity to facilitate design review meetings and be a part of the burgeoning implementation of solar power projects. And demand for such projects is only expected to increase, as energy efficiency and cleaner energy grows in priority, and as an answer to South Africa's power constraints.
Alongside his work for WSP, Eduard's passion for continuing to develop himself academically persists. He is currently finalising his pursuit of a Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He has passed the final Level 3 exam and is now aiming to complete the work experience required to obtain the Charter. “I have been studying for this part-time over the past two years and most recently wrote the final exam. This course has introduced me to the investment analysis side of the world,” he elaborates.
It is not just another string in his bow. Having that kind of elevated insight and understanding is particularly valuable, both from a IPP and local market growth point of view, as well as from an international funding and donor funding perspective. As well, combining his mechanical engineering background, his work on renewable energy projects and a deeper analytical foundation of market forces will no doubt bear fruit as South Africa continues to enter the era of a liberalised electricity market.
When not working and broadening his knowledge, Eduard keeps active by exercising, playing Padel and Golf, and tending to his wife and son.
“The main drivers in life are definitely my family, which is where I get my strength. With that, I aim to live by my principles and continuously improve myself,” he concludes.
