Getting to Know BCS: Feridun Albayrak
Olayinka Kolawole
Getting to Know BCS is a quarterly series that highlights members of the BCSorganization. This quarter, we commemorate the 45th anniversary of the
establishment of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and shine a spotlight onFeridun Albayrak, Vice President with BCS. Feridun leads the Fossil Energy andCarbon Management Division. He started his long consulting career in support ofDOE in 1978, one year after the establishment of DOE in 1977. Feridun joined BCSin July 2013 and he will celebrate his 10th anniversary next year. He holds a Masterof Science degree in Mineral Economics from Stanford University and a Bachelor ofScience degree in Mining Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in Turkey.
Can you share a little about your background – for example, what brought you to the U.S.?
I grew up in a small coal mining town on the Black Sea coast, Kilimli, which is a province of Zonguldak with extensive coal mining operations, power plants, and steel mills—very similar to Pittsburgh. Like almost everyone else in the area, my family worked in various capacities at a government-owned coal company—my grandfather was the first, as a superintendent in underground coal mines in early 1900s. I became a mining engineer and came to the U.S. for my master’s degree in 1975 on a full scholarship from a state-owned banking, mining, and energy conglomerate. After graduating in 1978, I started my consulting career supporting DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE) and its coal research and development (R&D) program. As part of my early work for the Office of Fossil Energy, I visited 17 major U.S. underground coal mines in the U.S. exploring operational problems experienced by longwall mine operators. I’ve been looking into coal mining operations, technologies, coal communities, and the people that live in them for quite a while. So, every time a coal mine shuts down, and a power plant goes off the grid—which has been happening at a faster rate over the past few years—I understand what these communities are going through and the hardship the people are faced with.
You have been supporting DOE for 44 years, almost since its inception. Can you share some of your experiences over that period?
I’ve had the unique opportunity of working under 16 different Secretaries with DOE: starting with the first Secretary of Energy, James Schlesinger, to the current Secretary Jennifer Granholm. I have supported several offices within DOE, primarily the Office of Fossil Energy—now called the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)—as well as the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Over the past 45 years, the Department’s focus has shifted and evolved according to the particular focus of the respective Administration, domestic and international circumstances, desire for energy independence, and most recently, climate-change-related initiatives, such as greenhouse gas emissions reduction, carbon management, and environmental justice. During its early years, energy security was a major driver of DOE’s R&D programs. The U.S. Synthetic Fuels Corporation (SFC) was created in 1980 with an ambitious goal of producing 500,000 barrels of synthetic fuels per day by 1987 and 1.5 million per day by 1992. Due to the high cost of creating a synthetic fuels industry, environmental concerns, and subsequent declining oil prices, SFC and its programs were shut down in 1986. DOE’s R&D program then shifted to domestic oil and gas production, while protecting the environment, as well as renewable energy. DOE invested in and pioneered advanced drilling technologies, such as horizontal and directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing, which led to the so called “shale revolution” and enabled significant increases in oil and gas production from unconventional formations and previously depleted fields. The U.S. has been the world’s top producer of natural gas since 2011 and the world’s top producer of petroleum since 2018. I have supported several strategic planning efforts in both FECM and EERE over the years. I find it very interesting, and sometimes rewarding, to see how some of the programmatic targets established and R&D programs initiated over the past four decades came to fruition.
We are in a transition moment in the energy sector—what do you see ahead?
DOE now looks to transform the nation’s energy system and secure leadership in clean energy technologies; there are targets of carbon-free power generation by 2035, and economy-wide net-zero emissions by 2050. Achieving these goals will be very challenging, requiring significant investment, and a drastic transformation in how we produce and use energy. A smooth transition to renewable, green energy will require significant upgrading of current infrastructure, including the electricity grid, building new ones, and the supply of affordable and reliable energy sources.
While there will be barriers to making all this economically possible, there are and will be opportunities to address longstanding issues, including affordability and equity. Right now, one of the big challenges facing the industry is decarbonizing energy production and energy-intensive sectors of our economy. It will take billions of dollars of investments in new technologies, commitments from financial institutions to fund both low-carbon projects and renewable energy projects, and the right incentives from governments to make innovations like carbon capture economically viable.
DOE now has several Energy Earthshot initiatives that will accelerate advances in new technologies and pave the way to innovative breakthroughs toward meeting our clean energy goals. The recent breakthrough in fusion energy at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is also a very exciting development for energy in the future. A key to accomplishing our clean energy goals is to stay the course and keep working toward significant breakthroughs.
Can you talk about BCS and the work we are doing in fossil energy space?
BCS works and supports many offices within DOE; our support services to FECM Headquarters go back more than 10 years. BCS services crosscut FECM offices and include technical, engineering, and analytical support; strategic planning; communications and outreach; graphics and desktop publishing; budget; information technology and business systems; environment, security, safety and health (ESS&H); correspondence; human resources/capital (HR/HC); and executive and administrative support. We also support the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, Energy Infrastructure Library maintenance at DOE’s Office of Electricity, and EERE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office for Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains Technical Program. We anticipate further growth for our work in fossil energy with FECM, and more broadly across DOE.
Given your career path, what tips for success or advice would you offer to new and mid-career professionals?
I should note that 42 of my 44 years have been with basically three companies, not counting the two acquisitions along the way. I never left a company because someone offered me higher pay or a better position. Loyalty, commitment, and hard work always paid off for me. Reflecting on my own experience, below are what stand out:
Take pride in your work and strive to deliver high-quality products. One of my mottos has been the old Zenith TV commercial: “The quality goes in before the name goes on.” Pay attention to details and don’t cut corners in whatever you do.
Be respectful and professional in all your interactions with clients and colleagues.
Be curious and look for and gain new knowledge and skills. Be relevant and take advantage of training opportunities. There is always something new to learn and as you learn you become more valuable—I’m still learning after all these years. Study and learn everything about the mission of your clients, programs, initiatives, technologies, and industries involved; ask questions.
Take on initiatives and surprise your clients. Stay in touch with them, anticipate their needs, and be proactive—get ahead of what your clients need instead of waiting for them to tell you.
Look for leadership opportunities.
Learn from your mistakes (and others’ missteps)—as I have done—and apply lessons–learned. Try not to make the same mistake twice. If something you do does not go well, avoid making excuses, take ownership of all your work, and do better the next time. Inform your manager of the good as well as the not-so-good, because you wouldn’t want them to hear directly from the client—don’t blindside your supervisor or manager.
Offer innovations, fresh ideas, and more effective ways of accomplishing your work.
Reach out to your BCS colleagues who can offer their expertise and knowledge and help in delivering quality products.
Follow the rules and processes, as well as the established company protocols.
If you run into a client who may be or known to be difficult to work with, keep an open mind, have some patience, and make it a project for yourself to become a go-to contractor for that client. I have done that many times in the past, and each time the client and I ended up becoming a great team that benefited both of us and my employer.
While you do all these things above, don’t forget to have fun and enjoy your work, and to balance work and family life.
What do you like to do for fun?
As I mentioned, I grew up near the coastline and I prefer being near the water, but in general I enjoy the outdoors and sightseeing with my family. The COVID-19 pandemic slowed down or stopped many activities we used to do, so now weare now trying to make up for the lost time. I like photography and taking a lot of pictures. I bike on the Washington andOld Dominion trail during weekends. Now that the weather is getting colder, I can’t wait for spring.
This interview was conducted by Olayinka Kolawole, an electrical engineer in the Defense and National Security Divisionof BCS.