Leif Morland is an experienced Principal Business Consultant at Cegal, with an impressive background in both the telecom and power industries. Leif holds an MSc in Physical Electronics and spent ten years as a telecom researcher at Sintef. He then worked for about ten years with product development in the power industry before joining Sysco/Cegal. He started his career at Sysco in 2009 as head of product and business development, and has since then been a key contributor to the development of innovative solutions in the power sector.
His transition to the power industry was fortuitous, but the timing was perfect, as he joined at a time when the first electronic data exchange between players in the power industry was being introduced. This gave him the opportunity to apply his telecom expertise in a new and exciting context.
Exciting projects and challenges in the power industry
Leif has been involved in many interesting projects, but highlights three specific ones from the power industry:
-
The first project was the pioneering work on the introduction of electronic communication in the power industry before 2000, where he participated in standardization work in several European countries.
-
The second project - Elhub, where he contributed to the development of a data hub in Norway and was involved in the process leading up to GoLive.
-
The third project - which he is currently working on - is the introduction of automated balancing in Norway+, which has just had GoLive. This project has been particularly exciting as it involves real-time calculations with second resolution.
The power industry is evolving, and Leif believes that the biggest challenges right now include the need for further automation and improvement of measurement quality. Players need to further automate their processes, especially those related to production plans and flexibility. With new players entering the flexibility market, it's important to ensure that this flexibility is delivered and handled correctly.
Leif sees many opportunities for innovation and improvement in the power industry. He believes that there is room for improvement in all parts of the value chain, and that it is important to work on the areas where there is a need.
Since Leif started out, the power industry has undergone significant changes. In the beginning, old manual systems dominated, but now the entire value chain has undergone major transformations. He believes that consumer flexibility and the use of multiple measurements will be a major change over the next five years.
Technology and passion: The versatile life of a consultant
Leif chose Sysco/Cegal, a company he found both exciting and innovative. He thrives in an environment that has an agile approach to both products and people. With his broad experience from different parts of the value chain, from real-time metering to automated balancing, he can help strengthen Cegal's position in the power industry by having a holistic perspective and understanding how changes in one system can affect another.
When Leif is not working with the power market, he has a passion for photography, which has been a hobby since childhood. He also enjoys cooking and drinking, and traveling has always been part of his job. Leif finds that this also triggers the desire to travel in his private life.
From one of Leif's many trips around the world :-)
If the power market was a movie, Leif would choose the drama genre, as there is a lot of drama surrounding the energy industry, which the media often fuels. One of the biggest myths about the power industry, he says, is the misunderstanding around availability and pricing. It's expensive to run a grid and revenues are regulated, which can lead to an increase in the grid rental price per kWh if you conserve electricity.
