14 Feb 2025
Andy Blair ONZM is co-founder and Director of Business and Innovation at Upflow, a geothermal innovation company that builds expert science and engineering teams to provide intelligent solutions to global industry.
Andy's expertise sits in the nexus between science, business and community. She's Immediate Past President of the International Geothermal Association (Netherlands), and Co-founder (2013) of Women in Geothermal, a global movement for the empowerment and advancement of women within the industry.
How do you work with engineers?
We bridge the gap between deep science and commercial reality, meaning we do the hard bit in the middle to make ideas and theory stand up in the real world. Our engineers build first-in-the-world pilot plants for a range of sectors, create project management plans, undertake techno-economic studies, and carry out a range of other tasks to derisk commercial investment and operations.
How does your work impact on engineers?
Our work is challenging. We often work in emerging, rapidly growing markets or we’re building tools to disrupt large, well-established ones. We're constantly trying to build things and execute in rapidly changing commercial and regulatory environments. Our non-negotiable position that our projects offer “more than money” outcomes means that we need highly skilled technical people who are willing to work in the “grey” space and are fuelled by purpose and camaraderie.
How do engineering decisions impact on your work?
A key component to our success is our willingness to say no. Our mantra is “do good sh**, with great people, for the good of the world” and we test every project against that. Our engineers are good at quickly cutting through complex data and noise and distilling information into simple problem statements, from which we can start building solutions. They’re great at bringing cold hard realities to the conversation and sniffing out the hard spots. Our engineering team is fundamental to moving from ideas to action.
Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro and Andy Blair (right). Photo: Supplied
What are three observations you’d make after working with engineers?
One of my team said engineers are “impatient scientists”, which feels bang on to me – they keep us moving. There’s a constant tension between deep thinking (science) and action (engineering) which helps us achieve meaningful outcomes (and gives us plenty of material for jokes).
They absolutely love a good whiteboarding session.
My broad sweeping statements, overt acts of optimism and public praise for their engineering prowess is too cringy and I should tone it down (I won’t).
What do engineers all seem to do so well?
Our engineers can take what they’ve learned from a technical perspective, then step outside that constrained box and creatively solve problems. It’s beautiful to watch it happen.
What do you wish all engineers understood better about your role?
Geothermal itself isn’t the goal. People don’t care about that, they just want to plug into sustainable, ethically produced reliable energy. Geothermal is the medium through which they can achieve that. The same goes for engineering: elaborate, perfectly beautiful engineering isn’t the goal. The goal is smart, relevant and useful solutions that enable great outcomes for people and planet.
This article was first published in the December 2024 issue of EG magazine.
