CCE’s Top 10 Under 40: Amreen Grewal

Photo courtesy Hedgehog Technologies.

This year, for the second time, Canadian Consulting Engineer launched an initiative to recognize up-and-coming consulting engineers across the country. We are now showcasing them on our website, in alphabetical order by surname.

Amreen Grewal, 35, is a project manager for Hedgehog Technologies, based in Vancouver. During her studies at the University of Toronto (U of T), she decided to focus on electrical engineering at a time when significant advances in electrification were on the horizon.

“Electricity is the future and I wanted to build it,” she says. “I knew there would be good job security!”

Having grown up in British Columbia, Grewal was keen to return after graduating and starting her career in Toronto, to be closer to her family again. After a stint with Labtest Certification in Richmond, B.C., where she specialized in safety code consulting for explosive environments, she wanted to get more involved in design—an opportunity that soon presented itself with Hedgehog Technologies.

“I joined as a junior engineer on a rollercoaster project for theme parks in Japan, the U.S. and Singapore,” she explains. “It was the first time I worked on something tangible and accessible, that I could take my family to see and touch.”

Her next horizons were community-minded. One of her most notable projects has been to design and implement a 2-MW solar power system for British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii First Nation, to reduce the community’s reliance on diesel. She has managed this community-built project by qualifying, hiring and training local Indigenous workers to build and operate the solar farm.

Similarly, Grewal is currently working with BC Hydro on a first-of-its-kind solar-battery integration project on a non-integrated grid, which will lay the groundwork for renewable energy generation and storage for remote communities.

“I enjoy projects that are community-led and community-built,” she says. “I would like to be more involved in these roles in the future.”

Recently, Grewal has been involved with Electricity Human Resources Canada’s (EHRC’s) Greening a Generation video campaign, both to promote sustainable energy practices to elementary students across the country and to inspire them to follow in her professional footsteps.