Shaping the engineers of the future 

Andreas Jakobson, a first-year student in Environmental Energy and Chemical Engineering, stood out for his outstanding performance in the TalTech spring scholarship competition and received Adven’s Sustainable Energy Scholarship. The field of study, which he chose somewhat randomly, has turned out to be more interesting than he initially expected.  

Hanna-Liisa Aava, also a first-year student in environmental energy and chemical technology, found everything she saw and experienced at Adven to be new. According to her, she has gained broad experience during her internship.

“I have seen the construction of district heating network , become acquainted  with heat substations, and participated in the maintenance of boiler plants. I have also assisted in preparing district heating network drawings and site plans and performed calculations related to pipelines,” Hanna-Liisa recounts. “The supervisors have been supportive and thorough,explaining many complex topics in a simple and understandable way,” she said.

Her experiences in the field of district heating networks and heat substations have inspired her to continue her internship and pursue a career in this field. 

Previously, Georg Martin gained experience through a summer internship at a university lab researching ionic liquids. He was also involved in organizing the Enerhack event. Those experiences have provided him a broad overview of the energy sector, but his internship at Adven has helped him see how the knowledge learned at school is applied in real life. Georg Martin is particularly interested in future solutions, such as geothermal energy and the development of heat pumps, and he is happy to have chosen this field of study.

Erika Virtaharju, who worked as a trainee at Adven in Finland, shares her diverse experience: “The internship has gone by quickly. Initially, the amount of new information seemed overwhelming, and I couldn’t imagine how I would manage, but the internship has gone very well! I am very pleased with my choice of internship placement, it has been a truly diverse and educational environment,” Erika says.

During her internship, she gained experience in many different areas, including participating in the maintenance and improvement processes of boiler plants, coordinating safety, ordering fuels, and observing work on a district heating network construction site.  

“Five months have flown by, and graduation is already on the horizon. Only the thesis remains,” she adds.

Erika moved from the other side of Finland for her internship and quickly found common ground with her colleagues, who welcomed her warmly and helped her settle in well. Thanks to this, she has learned a great deal and has already been able to apply what she learned in school to real life.

Erika particularly enjoys being able to apply theoretical knowledge to practical problems and see concrete results in her work. “I would like to continue in the field of maintenance. I have learned a lot, but there is still much to learn,” she explains.

Erika emphasizes that the tasks are very varied, and a workday can turn out completely different than expected in the morning, for example, due to the failure of a critical piece of equipment. She also points out that the internship has significantly strengthened her professional identity, as she was encouraged to express her ideas and actively participate in teamwork.

Adven’s internship program provides students with an excellent opportunity to test their knowledge and discover how different systems and technologies work in a real-world environment. According to our interns, our team is supportive and friendly, offering a safe environment for learning and growth.

“Our goal is to support future engineers and specialists by helping them discover their true potential and deepen their knowledge in the energy sector. We thank all our interns for their contribution and look forward to seeing the achievements they will accomplish in the future,” says Hanna Summa, SVP, Human Resources.

 We are delighted to contribute to the development of the next generation of engineers and specialists by providing them with a practical learning opportunity and a supportive environment.