Internal transformation

Improving the flow and management of technical information

At the beginning of 2020, Sibelga launched a large-scale project to facilitate the sharing of technical information essential to the management of its infrastructure and to improve the coordination and planning of technicians’ activities. This project is based on digitisation with, in particular, the provision of apps on a tablet for field staff. The employees concerned can consult and log technical information relating to their servicing and receive their daily task list directly.

This new working method is gradually being deployed within the Sibelga teams. Since July 2022, emergency interventions involving dispatching staff and on-call technicians have been gradually migrated to these new processes. “The telephone is of course still the primary means of contact for technicians in the event of an emergency,” says Alan Lespineux, head of the Dispatching Control Centre. “But digital tools make it possible to aggregate all the data in a single environment and facilitate the feedback of information. “

In addition, in 2022 Sibelga modernised its technical document management system. “Today, all Sibelga staff can access technical documents at any time, even on a mobile phone, and easily find the information they are looking for via a system of filters and keywords. This is particularly useful for technicians on call who no longer need to go through a computer to access our technical directory,” says Bastien De Spiegelaere, head of Sibelga’s Technology Centre.

Towards a new leadership culture

Sibelga’s goal is to be a partner in an energy transition that is accessible and affordable for everyone. To achieve this, many challenges must and will have to be met in the coming years. These challenges are not only technical, economic or organisational, they also require a strong leadership culture within the company.

“By leadership we mean our ability to act together to achieve shared objectives and common goals. So it’s not just about people who manage teams, it’s about all staff who demonstrate leadership on a daily basis, whether it’s in terms of self-sufficiency, taking initiative, resilience, innovation, feedback, inspiration, influence or advice,” says Benjamin Alen, Project Manager.

To implement this cultural dynamic, team coaching started in 2022 and will continue in 2023 to reach all levels of the organisation. Employees have been / will be asked to take a step back from the way their team operates and to position it in relation to the four values defined to guide the Sibelga way of working: focus, trust, simplicity and solution-oriented.

Sibelga develops and shares its technical expertise

With the arrival of new technologies and new uses on the network, Sibelga’s activities are changing and its skills are diversifying. This is why Sibelga has reorganised the department responsible for knowledge management, training, methods and technical notes within the company. This Technology Centre is organised into several cells, the Technical Hubs, each of which contains all the information relating to Sibelga’s business lines and the technologies associated with them.

In addition to Sibelga’s core business (management of the electricity, gas and public lighting networks), these hubs also include new areas of competence in which Sibelga is developing its expertise: for example, technical themes linked to the energy transition, such as hydrogen, heating networks or “behind the meter” technologies such as solar, heat pumps, connected devices, etc. By broadening our spectrum and integrating all these technologies, we are preparing for the integration of new uses in the network and the market, in line with Sibelga’s strategy,” states Thomas Bertrand, head of the Behind the Meter Technical Hub.

In addition, Sibelga shares its expertise with other players in the energy world through the Sibelga Academy, its technical training centre. In 2022, Sibelga, which will be recognised as a nationally recognised centre for training PE (polyethylene) welders in 2021, won part of a public contract to train welders for the Flemish gas network operator, Fluvius. “Among other things, we will train new Fluvius technicians in PE welding. This approved training takes place at our premises, alongside Sibelga’s technicians and subcontractors, over two to four days. It enables welders to obtain a pass recognised by the entire Synergrid federation,” comments Christophe Dupuis, head of the Technical Hub Gas and Hydrogen. Sibelga will also renew the certification of welders at two Fluvius sites in Mechelen and Erembodegem.

Crisis exercise: beyond the blackout

Every three years or so, Sibelga organises a crisis exercise to test its teams’ ability to manage critical situations on its networks. In general, the scenario adopted is that of a large-scale blackout directly linked to Sibelga’s core business.

In December 2022, another concept was explored. “Following the terrible floods that hit Wallonia in 2021, we wondered about our ability to manage an extraordinary event such as that,” says Pascal Mukile, Audit, Risk & Quality Manager at Sibelga. “These disasters go beyond the scope of Sibelga’s activities and require even more coordination and interaction with other key players, such as Safe.brussels, which is responsible for crisis management in Brussels. “

More than 40 staff members (mainly from the Electricity Operations, Gas Operations, Communication, Logistics and Dispatching departments) were asked to participate in this exercise: “Being confronted with multiple incidents, scattered across the network, mobilising additional response staff at short notice, identifying and sorting the many calls received, transmitting the right messages to our stakeholders and so on – all this was a real challenge. We learned so much from the exercise that we decided to draw up a specific plan for managing this type of incident,” says Alan Lespineux, head of the Dispatching Control Centre.