Meet The Expert – Sheldon White

What is your current role, and what are your main responsibilities?

I am the Field Service Controller at Prolectric and I am also a Plant-Generator Technician by trade. My main responsibilities include scheduling and managing our Field Service Engineers workloads and supporting customer queries.

What inspired you to pursue this field, and how did you get started?

For most of my working life I have worked as a Mechanic diagnosing and repairing vehicles. I then went on to be a White Goods Engineer before joining Prolectric as a Plant-Generator Technician. The role involved building and repairing solar based lighting and hybrid power generator products. I enjoy fault finding and learning how each element links and powers a product.

Due to more products becoming solar powered and environmentally friendly, I wanted to expand my knowledge and felt that this allowed me to use my current knowledge whilst also learning new skills and products. For my current role, I am monitoring portals and using my knowledge to support customer queries and help my colleagues in the field.

Can you share an example of a successful project you worked on, and what made it successful?

I was involved in building ProPower Solar Hybrid Generators for a client, and we had a tight turnaround to build them. As a team we identified our own personal strengths and used these to coordinate and complete the different elements of the build to be as efficient as possible.

How do you see the industry evolving in the next 5-10 years, and what trends do you think will drive this evolution?

The next 5-10 years will have an even bigger drive for people to convert to solar-hybrid power. The main driving force behind this will be to reduce carbon emissions and fuel costs.

How do you think technology is impacting the industry, and what opportunities and challenges does this present?

Technology is having a positive impact on the solar-renewables industry, our Smart Remote Portals for example allow us to remotely monitor our solar-hybrid units all over the UK and beyond to ensure they are always performing at their best.

What are some common misconceptions about your industry or field you can dispel?

A common misconception is that solar doesn’t work in the UK due to the weather, but Prolectric’s track record proves this is not the case. For example, our ProLight can work all year-round providing light with solar being the only source of charge for the unit.