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Jordan O’Brien has more than a decade’s experience covering the latest technologies. During his career, Jordan has appeared on both BBC Radio 4 and BBC Breakfast to offer his expertise. You’ll now find him steering Electrical Review through its historic 150th Anniversary, as well as the regular host on the Powered On Podcast.
Jason Yates is the Technical Services Manager for leading uninterruptible power supply manufacturer Riello UPS Ltd.
With more than 30 years’ experience in the power protection industry, Jason is one of the UK’s foremost experts in his field. He’s designed, delivered, and installed countless low and high-power systems across a broad range of industries, working with several of the country’s biggest data centres, businesses, electrical contractors, and public sector organisations.
Jason has played a pivotal role in establishing Riello UPS Ltd as one of the fastest-growing and technically-diverse UPS companies in the UK. He is also the co-author of the 300-page technical handbook ‘The Power Protection Guide’.
The last two years have seen significant developments in the UK energy market, with the energy crisis feeding through into the wider macroeconomy and leading to a refocus on affordability and security.
How have generation and retail markets responded to the recent crisis and how will they evolve in the future? What are the key recent and upcoming policy changes aiming to keep the UK on track to net zero? And what will the energy market look like in the future?
Tom has 15 years’ experience of working in public relations and corporate communications in the zero carbon, electric vehicle and wider automotive and manufacturing sectors.
He formerly chaired the motor industry’s principal electric vehicle group and has extensive knowledge of electric vehicles, infrastructure and associated technologies.
His role at myenergi extends beyond electric vehicles and includes assessing the policy and regulatory landscape across low carbon technologies more generally, including the future of heating, renewables and the energy system more generally.
In supporting the growth of the Lincolnshire-based eco-smart home technology company, Tom engages with government, the media, the wider supply chain and other relevant industry stakeholders.
Kester has worked in the electricity industry since 2006. Prior to 2006, he held a variety of supervisory and managerial roles in production, logistics and procurement in the automotive industry.
In 2006 he joined E.ON Central Networks and worked in a variety of supervisory and management roles. In 2011, following Western Power Distribution’s acquisition of Central Networks, he became a Distribution Manager and was responsible for service delivery, operations and performance in Telford and Shrewsbury.
In 2013, he became a Distribution Manager in Birmingham and was responsible for 200+ staff and for service delivery, network operations and performance in the UK’s second city and surrounding areas.
In 2021, Kester became Connections Strategy Manager for WPD (now National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED)). In this role, Kester is responsible for the Connections Strategy across NGED’s four licence areas including roadmaps for Major Connection and Mass Market customer segments. His team also identifies the role digitalisation can play in enhancing customer service and driving efficiency.
Kester holds an MSc in Leadership and Management.
Gurpreet joined the Atrato Group in February 2021 and is responsible for leading the Renewable Energy investment strategy.
Gurpreet has been part of the renewable energy industry for 15 years having worked in public and private capital markets. Prior to joining the Atrato Group, Gurpreet was a Director at the Macquarie Group, where he spent 7 years working in the principal investment team at the Green Investment Group (GIG) and in the Equities business as the lead renewable energy analyst.
At GIG he worked across the full spectrum of renewable energy, primarily helping to execute the syndication process of the group’s principally owned assets. This included over 1GW of generation capacity within the solar PV, onshore wind, offshore wind and waste to energy sectors. He also co-ordinated and structured the sale of infrastructure assets including a fibre-to-the-home network connected to 1m building units in Spain, and the sale of an I&C energy meter portfolio worth c. £300m to a leading infrastructure investor in the UK.
Gurpreet graduated from the University of Reading, and holds postgraduate degrees from Henley Business School (MSC International Securities, Investment and Banking) and the University of Oxford (MSc Sustainable Urban Development).’
Andrew Eldred is Director of Workforce and Public Affairs at the electrotechnical and engineering services trade body, ECA.
Before joining ECA, Andrew spent four-and-a-half years as Crossrail’s Head of Employee Relations, with specific responsibility for fulfilling the project’s apprenticeship and local employment commitments. Andrew’s other roles have included stints with the Olympic Delivery Authority’s delivery partner, BESA and the Engineering Construction Industry Association.
In addition to his role at ECA, Andrew is Chair of Develop Training Ltd, a trustee-director of the apprentice training charity JTL and a leading member to the Construction Leadership Council’s People and Skills Network.
Dr Gokce Mete is Senior Expert in heavy industry transition and low-carbon hydrogen at South Pole and leads the Hydrogen for Net Zero Initiative (H2NZ). H2NZ aims to unlock carbon finance for hydrogen projects. She also leads the policy and advocacy efforts of South Pole in the low-carbon hydrogen space and is responsible for developing new low-carbon hydrogen business opportunities.
Gokce is co-founder of the Women in Green Hydrogen Network, author of over 30 publications, and has over a decade of policy and regulatory analysis, public affairs, project development and stakeholder management experience focused on climate change, just transition and sustainability in the energy, heavy industry and minerals sectors.
Previously she was Head of Secretariat of the UN Leadership Group for the Industry Transition hosted by the Stockholm Environment Institute which explores how policy, finance and business practices in hard-to-abate industry sectors such as steel, cement, heavy duty transport and chemicals can be aligned to achieve climate neutrality. At SEI, she also project led initiatives focusing on oil and gas transitions, green trade and green public procurement in road transport and construction sectors.
Tom is Partner and Head of Energy & Infrastructure at Downing LLP. He has over 20 years of experience as principal and adviser across the private equity and private debt infrastructure sectors.
He trained as a solicitor before moving into private equity, where he carried out successful transactions totalling in excess of £13bn in the energy, utilities, transportation, accommodation and defence sectors.
Tom holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Royal College of Law and both a master’s and bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Cambridge.
Having been involved in renewable energy since the ‘90s, whilst working in Germany, Tim has watched with increasing concern the impact that climate change has already had and is continuing to have on the world we live in.
Tim is a renewable energy specialist with over 30 years’ experience. He has developed multiple renewable energy projects in combined heat & power and gas to grid across the UK, Europe and Africa, for businesses including BTS Biogas, Grissan Renewables (Wm Grant & Sons) and Africa Power Storage. He also led the Innovate UK funded First of a Kind (FOAK) project, commercialising solar car parking technologies in the UK, which resulted in the installation of the UK’s largest solar carpark at Bentley Motors manufacturing facility in Cheshire (1500 spaces).
Prior to being a founder of 3ti Energy Hubs, Tim managed a team pioneering the development and installation of small-scale solar power & battery storage projects, providing power for rural communities, clinics and schools in sub-Saharan Africa.
It’s this experience, together with his work in commercial business development, finance and project management that led Tim to start 3ti with business partner, Max Aitken in 2019.
Tim believes that the time for positive climate action is now. 3ti’s company motto is “Leave Something Better Behind”, a belief that he has strived to live by, but with increased focus since becoming a grandfather, 10 years ago.
Jonty Haynes is a Principal Analyst at Regen, focussing on the future of energy as the UK looks to decarbonise over the coming decades.
He currently leads Regen’s ‘Distribution Future Energy Scenarios’ analysis for electricity and gas distribution networks in England, Scotland and Wales, assessing the uptake and impact of decarbonising power, heat, transport and industry at both national, regional and local levels. This includes analysing the ever-growing pipeline of storage projects looking to connect to the grid, and the potential business models for energy storage in a rapidly decarbonising energy system.
Jonty also led Regen’s ‘A Day in the Life 2035’ project with National Grid ESO, investigating challenging winter and summer days in a net zero power system in 2035 as part of the ESO’s Bridging the Gap workstream. This highlighted the role of low carbon power supply from nuclear, renewables, storage and interconnection, the necessity of demand-side flexibility from EVs, electric heat and industry, the operability solutions needed to keep the system stable, and the infrastructure and market frameworks required for the system to operate efficiently, effectively, and equitably.
Roisin is a Principal Future Mobility Consultant at Arcadis with a broad knowledge and experience of local, regional, and national EV schemes and priorities. As an experienced policy and strategy professional previously working at Transport for London (TfL), Roisin’s roles included leading European and Innovate UK research projects for energy transition and building the evidence base for innovative transport modes and Electric Vehicles (EV) to inform and implement strategic policy development in London.
More recently, in her role at Arcadis, Roisin is helping a range of Local Authority clients across the UK to roll-out EV infrastructure and implement a robust approach to net-zero mobility solutions. She has first hand experience of the challenges faced by Local Authorities and is helping to develop the solutions to overcome them.
Francisco de Leon currently works as a Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, New York University. His research interests include the analysis of power phenomena under non-sinusoidal conditions, the transient and steady-state analyses of power systems, the thermal rating of cables and transformers, and the calculation of electromagnetic fields applied to machine design and modelling. He has held several academic positions in Mexico and has worked for the Canadian electric industry.
Joe is the Deputy Head of the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles, dedicated to removing barriers to EV infrastructure. He spearheaded the installation of over 300 rapid charging points across London, and has a passion for sustainable urban transport.
Nikki is one of the most respected and well-liked individuals in the connections community.
Since achieving an MSc in Energy Policy from the University of Exeter, Nikki has worked in the energy industry for eight years, with five of those as a grid connection specialist. Most recently she has headed up the grid connections function at GRIDSERVE, where she managed connections for all its EV charging forecourts and utility-scale renewables projects.
Prior to GRIDSERVE, Nikki spent three years at British Solar Renewables – where she headed up the grid team managing its connections for a diverse range of solar and storage installations.
As well as spearheading the origination, safeguarding, de-risking, project-management and energisation of a large number of connections, Nikki has led the grid oversight in a significant volume of both project acquisitions and project sales. She knows how to make an attractive connection, and the costly pitfalls to avoid.
Thomas Verghese is an energy storage industry expert with almost 30 years’ of experience and is currently working as the Business Development Manager at EnerSys® in the UK. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics at the University of Sussex, his Master of Science in Material Science and, subsequently, his Doctorate from the University of Manchester. Tom’s background includes Engineering and Technical application support expertise. He is knowledgeable in energy storage systems selection, specification writing, and maintenance.
Tom has been actively involved in the development of several battery products, including Lithium-based solutions for use in hazardous environments and Lead-based batteries for heavy-duty vehicles, and he has written numerous papers and presented at various industry-related conferences over the years.
John Parsons has a long and varied career in the energy industry. He has been at BEAMA since 2003, previous to which he worked at British Gas Research and before that at GEC Research during which time he worked on many technologies, including fuel cells, microCHP, load management. and heat pumps.
Since April 2022 he has been BEAMA Digital and Technology Manager, providing technical support for BEAMA activities in power networks, ventilation, heating controls, electric heating as well as Cyber Security. He was the Head of BEAMA Networks until April 2022. At BEAMA, he has worked across the whole range of BEAMA members products.
He is also the Secretary of the T&D Europe Transformers WG and Cyber Security TF and Chair of BSI L/13 Smart Energy Systems Coordination Committee.
Policy Director at REA also focussing on energy storage, grid networks and large scale renewable power. Frank has a background in energy and climate change policy in UK central Government and the non-Governmental sector. Frank also holds a Master’s degree in Climate Change, coordinated the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change and has co-authored a number of reports on renewable energy and storage.
George is a senior advisor on Net Zero, energy policy, economics, regulation and governance. He has over 25 years of UK and international experience as a senior civil servant, regulator, consultant and policy advisor in energy, water, environment and agriculture. George led the development of ESC’s portfolio of analysis and thought leadership on Net Zero Carbon Policy, electricity market reform, and heat & buildings decarbonisation from 2017-22. George has acted as an expert advisor for BEIS and the Climate Change Committee advisory panels. He is a council member (formerly chair) of the British Institute of Energy Economics and sits on the UK Energy Research Centre Research Committee. Prior to joining ESC, George was Head of Economic Strategy at the Energy Technologies Institute, and Director of Network Regulation at Ofwat.
David started his career in the electrical industry in 1999 as an apprentice with the Midlands Electricity Board. His experience with electrical design, installation, verification, and maintenance is in many areas; industrial, agricultural, commercial, domestic, hazardous area and renewables.
After spending nearly 20 years ‘on the tools’ – including running his own business – David took the step into teaching adult learners and apprentices, both at a training provider and at a local college.
Then – after a rewarding 6 years in FE – his current role is an installation safety engineer at Electrical Safety First; this includes developing and editing ESF’s Best Practice Guides and chairing meetings with other major stakeholders in industry.
Electrical safety has always been in the forefront for David throughout his career and is something he is very passionate about; his motto has always been “do it once – do it right”.
Dhara joined Energy UK in November 2022. She is an expert in energy consumer issues and the energy transition, and was named ‘Executive of the year’ at the 2023 Trade Association Forum Awards. Prior to joining Energy UK Dhara led work on net zero, the future energy system and decarbonisation at Citizens Advice.
Dhara began her career in local government and has worked across a broad range of policy areas from civil society to community building and deliberative democracy. She has been an active member of several Government and academic advisory boards, is on the Board of Green Alliance and is a primary school governor.
Jonathan is the Policy and Operations Director at Zemo Partnership and has responsibility for formulating the policy objectives of the Partnership, in conjunction with government departments and members, ensuring the work programme reflects those policy objectives and disseminating the outputs of the Partnership’s work programme to policy makers. Jonathan has direct responsibility for co-ordinating the Electric Vehicle Energy Taskforce and delivery of the work programme and liaison with Taskforce stakeholders. He also has responsibility for operational aspects of the Partnership’s activities.
Jonathan is an environmental economist with over thirty years of experience working in the transport, automotive and energy sectors for companies including the Energy Saving Trust, the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) and Total Oil among others. His experience involves developing policy, designing and implementing programmes to promote markets for environmental vehicles, technologies and fuels working closely with the UK Government and EC during the last two decades.
In 2003 he was awarded the Green Fleet Award for Personal Achievement for helping kick-start the market for clean fuelled vehicles in the UK.
Rolf Bienert is Managing & Technical Director of the OpenADR Alliance. In this capacity, he oversees all aspects of the non-profit organisation, including strategy, technical developments, and certification programs.
Rolf has been an active member of many industry organisations for over 20 years, driving the development of new technologies with a specific focus on standardisation, certification, and interoperability. Rolf holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering.
Prior to going independent, Rolf was the Technical Manager for a Telecom and Global Competence Center for emerging communication protocols at a global testing firm. In this role, he was involved in many international standardization efforts and guided the company’s efforts in these areas. Rolf also held titles from Vice President, Executive Director, to Division Manager over the years.
Janez Guzelj is the application and technical consulting director at company Metrel, the leading test and measurement equipment manufacturer. He is an innovator of electrical safety testing procedures with more than 30 years of practical experience implementing new measurement methods into practice. Practical experiences are based on his position as Chairman of Low Voltage Electrical Safety Board with over 250 active members – inspectors for different levels of electrical safety in buildings, installations, energetics, industries, special installations and locations, demanding installations, and risk environments.
In cooperation with the Electrotechnical Association Body and the presidency of the NNELI LV Safety Committee, he represents the interests of inspectors and leading engineers of electrical installation’s safety and lightning protection.
He is the author and co-author of numerous professional literature and guides for working in developed industrial environments. He conducts professional training to obtain qualifications and competences in the field of electrical energetics and low voltage electrical installations safety, safety of specific installations and locations, protection against lightning, safety of machinery, electrical equipment, electrical grid, distribution, and transmission systems.
Brendan has worked in different aspect of the trade industry for nearly 30 years and is an experienced professional in the electrical wholesale industry with a career spanning over a decade. Since 2012, Brendan has worked in leading and independent wholesale companies, gaining expertise in the field. In 2018, Brendan was appointed as the Sales Manager of Metrel UK, a well-known electrical testing and measurement company. With a track record of delivering exceptional sales results and driving business growth, Brendan is highly respected in the industry and is known for his ability to build strong relationships with clients.
Daniel is an experienced electrician who has worked in the industry for several years. They have a wealth of knowledge and expertise in all aspects of electrical installations, maintenance, and repairs.
After gaining extensive experience in the field, Daniel joined Metrel UK a leading provider of innovative electrical testing and measurement solutions.
In this role, he can provide valuable technical advice and support to customers, helping them troubleshoot issues with their electrical testing equipment and ensuring that they are using the equipment safely and effectively
Helen is a policy specialist and expert in strategic communications and stakeholder management with 19 years’ experience in the public and private sector. She has experience across a wide range of low carbon policy areas including low carbon transitions, offshore wind, energy efficiency, heat networks and economic development, both in the UK and internationally. Her experience of working on policy development within government, delivering policy implementation and providing external policy advice enable her to offer informed and practical advice to policymakers.
Helen also directs the development and delivery of the Carbon Trust’s stakeholder management and behaviour change work, specializing in collaborative and inclusive engagement practices both internally and with external groups. This includes advice and support to organisations designing and implementing organisational change and behaviour change programmes, from senior stakeholder engagement through to campaign design and monitoring.
She is a qualified Change Management Practitioner and a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Daniel is an experienced electrician who has worked in the industry for several years. They have a wealth of knowledge and expertise in all aspects of electrical installations, maintenance, and repairs.
After gaining extensive experience in the field, Daniel joined Metrel UK a leading provider of innovative electrical testing and measurement solutions.
In this role, he can provide valuable technical advice and support to customers, helping them troubleshoot issues with their electrical testing equipment and ensuring that they are using the equipment safely and effectively
Jonathan is the Policy and Operations Director at Zemo Partnership and has responsibility for formulating the policy objectives of the Partnership, in conjunction with government departments and members, ensuring the work programme reflects those policy objectives and disseminating the outputs of the Partnership’s work programme to policy makers. Jonathan has direct responsibility for co-ordinating the Electric Vehicle Energy Taskforce and delivery of the work programme and liaison with Taskforce stakeholders. He also has responsibility for operational aspects of the Partnership’s activities.
Jonathan is an environmental economist with over thirty years of experience working in the transport, automotive and energy sectors for companies including the Energy Saving Trust, the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) and Total Oil among others. His experience involves developing policy, designing and implementing programmes to promote markets for environmental vehicles, technologies and fuels working closely with the UK Government and EC during the last two decades.
In 2003 he was awarded the Green Fleet Award for Personal Achievement for helping kick-start the market for clean fuelled vehicles in the UK.
Dhara joined Energy UK in November 2022. She is an expert in energy consumer issues and the energy transition, and was named ‘Executive of the year’ at the 2023 Trade Association Forum Awards. Prior to joining Energy UK Dhara led work on net zero, the future energy system and decarbonisation at Citizens Advice.
Dhara began her career in local government and has worked across a broad range of policy areas from civil society to community building and deliberative democracy. She has been an active member of several Government and academic advisory boards, is on the Board of Green Alliance and is a primary school governor.
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