While Australia faces a projected shortfall of 42,000 workers by 2030, threatening the nation’s net-zero transition, Intium is moving against the grain, streamlining the project lifecycle by establishing a vertically integrated team designed to improve efficiencies and reduce costs for its clients.
By applying high-caliber engineering directly onto its procurement, construction, commissioning, and operations capabilities, Intium is removing the traditional friction between design and execution.
This allows Intium to deliver approximately 70% of its engineering hours in-house, driving a 20% increase in schedule efficiency and significantly reducing project cycle times through faster, more informed decision-making.
In an industry often reliant on heavy outsourcing, skill gaps and extreme volatility and supply disruptions, Intium has successfully secured deep local technical expertise, filling seven key engineering and delivery roles in just eight weeks this year, positioning itself as a reliable partner for complex energy projects.
Babu Kumar, General Manager of Engineering and Delivery, is spearheading the team’s growth, which includes recent new hires, Angela Yuan, Senior Design Engineer, Saket Upadhyay, Grid Connections Advisory Lead, Tony Palechek, Design Manager, Cristofer Hillmer, Senior Project Engineer, Goran Nakomcic, Senior Project Manager, Peter Thabet, Manager Estimating and Commercial Strategy and Ashish Raj, Senior Design Manager Engineering.
This integrated team bolsters Intium’s end-to-end technical capability. From senior primary and secondary engineering to sophisticated protection and high-voltage substation design, installation and commissioning, the team brings specialised expertise essential for maintaining grid stability while driving down total project costs for complex energy infrastructure.
Intium has integrated rare expertise to drive commercial efficiencies, specifically through the appointment of Peter Thabet. Peter’s experience in first-principles estimating and commercial strategy skills are increasingly difficult to source in the current market and key to reducing project cycle times and overheads.
The high-level oversight across civil, structural, and electrical disciplines that Peter brings, combined with his international experience, ensures that Intium’s focus remains on ensuring that energy infrastructure projects are not only technically proficient, but equally commercially optimised and risk-mitigated from the outset.
“Driving the vertical integration of our engineering team to build technical depth is a true privilege as we work to transform Australia’s renewable energy sector,” said Babu Kumar.
“By embedding engineering into our procurement and construction workflows, we eliminate project delays, reduce cycle times, and ensure every design choice is commercially optimised from day one. This integrated approach allows us to drive down costs for our clients while enjoying the benefits of total oversight across the project lifecycle, ensuring we offer the innovative, long-term energy solutions and speed to market that the country urgently needs.”
The team is currently driving success and improving delivery speeds across grid-scale and transmission projects such as Mulwala Solar Farm and Parkes Activation Precinct.
Looking ahead, Intium’s Engineering and Delivery team is forecasted to further scale its integrated model, creating an additional 5–10 roles by 2027 to strengthen regional delivery efficiencies.
Nathan Rhodes, Executive General Manager of Intium, said, “Our team is integrating at speed to drive down costs for our clients, ensuring we deliver renewable projects faster and more reliably.”
“At a time when the broader industry is under significant pressure, Intium is choosing to invest in its people and its assets. We believe that by establishing a vertically integrated team from design to delivery, we provide the efficiency and technical excellence required to meet Australia’s ambitious targets”
By vertically integrating its technical workforce and maintaining a strong focus on internal delivery, Intium continues to solidify its position as a key driver of the infrastructure necessary to power Australia’s sustainable future.
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