We are delighted to announce that Dr Henna Bains has been promoted to the newly created role of Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Kinewell Energy.
Dr Bains joined the company in 2022 after obtaining a PhD in engineering from Durham University titled ‘Offshore transmission system planning under severe uncertainty’.
Supported by funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the UK’s Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, the research explored how advanced mathematics could be used to help wind farm developers make more risk-informed decisions.
Working with the team at Kinewell, she has since seen her labour of love brought to life in the form of the Kinewell Designing Offshore Transmission Systems (KDOTS) software solution, which launched last year to help developers identify the easiest, most cost-effective ways of transmitting energy from offshore wind farms to shore.
The software enables developers in the early project design phase to make more informed decisions in selecting offshore transmissions infrastructure, despite the severe uncertainty of project development and saves engineering time through digitalisation, by rapidly comparing different electrical and hydrogen export systems.
It has proven such a success that KDOTS has also been used through repeat commercial consultancy to answer key questions around green hydrogen.
As CTO, Henna is now responsible for the development of all Kinewell software solutions. The Kinewell software suite also includes KLOC to economically optimise inter-array cables, and KWOTA to optimise turbine locations.
She said: “It fills me with immense pride to have been promoted to the role of Chief Technical Officer at Kinewell.
“As an engineer, I love nothing more than being tasked with helping to overcome a challenge and they don’t come much bigger than the climate crisis, so it’s fantastic to be part of a team which is playing such a pivotal role in the global transition to Net Zero.
“Over recent years, Kinewell’s solutions have been utilised during the development of some of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, so it is amazing to know we have played a key part in that.
“However, while we are rightly proud as a team of the work we’ve done, we also know that there is still a lot more we all need to do in order to achieve Net Zero, so I am honoured to be working with this amazing team as we continue to deliver digital solutions with real positive environmental and societal change.”
Dr Bains’ promotion to Chief Technical Officer follows Kinewell’s recent move to a new, larger head office in Newcastle city centre and coincides with the company’s plans to continue increasing its headcount.
Currently employing 14 members of staff, Kinewell is hoping to recruit for a number of new roles over the next 12 months, including a Chief Financial Officer and a Chief Commercial Officer, as it looks to continue bringing new innovations to market.
Dr Andrew Jenkins, Founder and CEO of Kinewell, said: “Henna has played a pivotal role in the continued growth of Kinewell since she joined us two years ago, so we are absolutely thrilled to have her as our new Chief Technical Officer.
“We have ambitious plans to continue growing the company and launching new solutions to market over the coming years and Henna’s core technical knowledge, innovative mindset and strategic vision will play a key role in helping us realise those ambitions.”
Dr Behzad Kazemtabrizi, Associate Professor in the Engineering Department at Durham University, worked closely with Dr Bains on her PhD and the development of KDOTS.
He said: “I am delighted to see Henna excelling in her career, having been promoted to Chief Technical Officer at Kinewell.
“I have known Henna since 2016 when she first started her PhD with me and my colleague, Prof Matthias Troffaes, at Durham having been one of the only handful of students who worked seamlessly with both Engineers and Mathematicians.
“I have the pleasure of working closely with her ever since and after she joined Kinewell as a Senior Engineer. During this whole time, she consistently demonstrated exceptional organisation, enthusiasm, and diligence.
“Her passion for learning new things and unwavering reliability were evident in her research and key to our success with establishing a thriving link with Kinewell to take her research beyond academia and into the industry.
“It is no surprise to me that she has continued to rise through the ranks, and I have no doubt that Henna will achieve even greater success in the future.”
