Gaynor Hartnell, Chief Executive, Renewable Energy Association

Gaynor Hartnell has many years of experience in the renewable energy industry.

She graduated with a first class degree in Environmental Science, from the School of Chemistry at Sussex University, in 1989. She spent a further year at Sussex, doing an MSC at the Science Policy Research Unit. She then worked for a brief spell in the water industry, before returning to Sussex University as a Research Fellow, where she worked on the impacts of environmental regulation on innovation in sectors as diverse as agrochemicals and ferrous foundries.

She left Sussex to join the British Wind Energy Association, as Technical and Policy Analyst, in 1995. She became self employed in 1998, specialising in services for renewable energy trade associations. She ran the Landfill Gas Association, which was later renamed the Biogas Association and she co-coordinated CREA an umbrella group of RE trade associations.

Gaynor was involved in the formative stages of the Association, became its first executive in the summer of 2001 and its Chief Executive in early 2010.

James Smith - Chairman of Shell UK ltd.

James Smith was appointed Chairman of Shell UK in 2004, having joined Shell in 1983.  Much of his early career was in upstream oil and gas.  He lived for 4 1/2 years in Malaysia and Brunei and worked on Shell business in a number of Middle Eastern countries and in the US.  He was head of technology in Shell Chemicals.

James is President of the Energy Institute and chairs the Advisory Board of the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. He is on the boards of Opportunity Now and Race for Opportunity, the employer groups supporting gender and racial diversity in the workplace. 

Doug Parr - Chief Scientist from Greenpeace

Dr Douglas Parr is Chief Scientist and Policy Director at Greenpeace UK, looking after the science and political functions. Currently working on climate change policy in the power, heat and transport sectors, he has previously worked on a number of issues including GM crops, chemicals policy, green refrigeration, marine conservation and nuclear power. He obtained a D.Phil in Atmospheric Chemistry from Oxford University in 1991.  

Adrian Gault, Chief Economist, the Committee on Climate Change

Adrian joined the secretariat of the Committee on Climate Change in May 2009, where he is responsible for analytical work looking at UK greenhouse gas emission reduction potential and costs.

Prior to joining the CCC secretariat, Adrian has substantial experience of energy and environmental issues - as an economist in Department for Transport, the Energy Group at DTI (now part of DECC) and in the Treasury tax team.

Jo Greasley, Head of Renewable Heat Incentive Team, DECC

Neil Turner Business Development Manager for RES

Neil Turner MSc DIC works for RES who have invested in a number of building-integrated renewable energy companies including Wood Energy, a leading specialist supplier of Binder and Hargassner wood chip and pellet boilers from 45kW to over 5MW throughout the UK. 
Neil has been involved in the implementation of building integrated renewable energy projects for over 10 years and has facilitated biomass, solar, wind and ground source heat pump installations on a range of community, public and commercial sites. Neil has a wide range of policy, planning and technical knowledge related to all renewable energy and the broader sustainability agenda.  Neil is a biomass heating specialist and has delivered Energy Institute accredited training to hundreds of delegates.

Mark Bugler, Energy Technology & Innovation Manager, British Gas

Paul Day, CEO, Aquafuel Research

Ali Lloyd- Principle Consultant at Poyry Energy Consulting

Ali Lloyd specialises in renewable energy and bioenergy strategies and commercial development.
He joined in February 2010 with 19 years of commercial experience in UK energy markets. He has a detailed knowledge of the UK electricity market including support schemes for renewable and CHP generators. Ali has performed a variety of roles in trading and risk management, business development, contract management, and regulatory affairs.
Most recently Ali was with a CHP and renewable operator based on Teesside in the UK, where he managed the company's participation in environmental trading schemes, co-ordinated its commodity risk management activities, and led its lobbying activities with government and regulators. Previously he has worked for a large utility, an energy trading organisation, and as a freelance consultant.
Ali holds a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from Cambridge University and a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Princeton University.

Richard Bonsall RWE Npower Renewables

Richard has worked in the UK electricity industry in a variety of roles including power station construction project management, service management, business development and for the last 5 years in project development. He was responsible for the project development of the 50MW biomass CHP plant at Tullis Russell's paper mill in Scotland which is currently being constructed. Richard is a chartered mechanical engineer and following university spent 6 years as a marine engineering officer in the Royal Navy. Richard is currently Head of Commercial for RWE npower renewable's biomass business.

Richard Gueterbock, Director of Clearfleau

Richard Gueterbock is a Director of Clearfleau, which has developed novel systems for treatment (including high rate anaerobic digestion) of liquid effluents.  Clearfleau recently secured WRAP funding for a project in the dairy sector that provide a demonstrator facility for the UK food industry.  Its liquid digestion technology has applications in a range of industrial sectors but is particularly suited for the on-site digestion of effluent from food processing.  The system has been also used to treat liquid effluent derived from bio-fuel production. 
Richard is also a Director of the Wright Group, an irrigation and water technology business and Foodchains, a strategic consultancy that operates in the agri-food sector.   In the 1990s, Richard was Political Adviser to two UK Agriculture Ministers and also worked in Brussels for the EU Institutions.  Richard is also a Trustee of the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE).

Iain Ward- Project Manager for CNG Services

Iain is a professional engineer with 33 years experience gained mostly in the UK gas industry. He has extensive knowledge and applied experience in all aspects of field-based operations, management systems, remote gas network control and real time operation of all on-shore gas transportation assets, together with first-hand knowledge of technical, safety and economic regulatory regimes. As DNCC Manager in National Grid he held responsibility for safe, secure and economic gas supply to 20 million consumers. More recently he has worked in renewable energy with a specific emphasis on Biomethane to Grid, and is now providing innovation, engineering and regulatory support to various current projects.

Neil Schofield- Head of Sustainable Development at Worcester Bosch

Neil Schofield, Head of Sustainable Development has been with Worcester, part of the Bosch Group, for over 20 years. Neil has been involved in the heating industry throughout his career, starting at British Gas before moving on to Worcester in 1987. For the last eight years, Neil has been leading the company on industry legislation, ensuring that Worcester is at the forefront of providing support for any new changes. He took on this new role to initially to focus on the amends to the building regulations (Part L regarding boilers) and is now the company's main ambassador for promoting awareness of renewable technology and carbon reduction legislation.
As part of Neil’s role, he is involved a number of industry bodies:

• Association for the Conservation of Energy (Chair)
• Heating & Hotwater Industry Council (Chair - Low carbon technologies group)
• Solar Trade Association (Vice chair)

Virginia Graham, Chief Executive of the REAL Assurance Scheme

Virginia has extensive experience in sustainable energy policy. As well as running the Scheme, she also advises a range of organisations in the public and private sectors on issues such as energy efficiency, renewable energy and CO2 emissions trading. She is the Chair of Global Action Plan, the practical environmental charity, and a Trustee of National Energy Action and Eaga Charitable Trust, a grant-giving body which promotes research into fuel poverty and energy efficiency.
For six years to the end of 2005 Virginia was Director or Environmental and Social Affairs at Ofgem. Part of her remit was to administer Government Climate Change programmes including EEC, RO and CCL exemptions for renewables and CHP. With a background in politics and economics, Virginia has specialised in consumer, social and environmental policy for most of her career, working in both the UK and the EU.

Bruce Allen- Chief Executive of HETAS

Chris Miles, Econergy

Chris, CEng MIET, MA Engineering (Cantab), MBA (INSEAD), is the Managing Director of Econergy, one of the UK's leading suppliers of wood fuelled boilers, biomass district heating and energy services. Econergy have sold over 300 biomass heating projects in the UK.

Chris is also a Director of Midland Wood Fuel Supply Limited and on the Board of the Renewable Energy Association. Working with a variety of Stakeholders, he has played a leading role in helping to develop the public policy framework to accelerate the biomass heating sector in the UK.

DAY 2

Clare Wenner - Head of Biomass and Transport at REA

A graduate of Cambridge University, Clare worked for 10 years in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, covering a broad range of policy areas.

She then spent 10 years as a Director of a well-known lobbying company in London, specialising in agriculture, food and international trade issues and setting up the company’s operations in Brussels.
After 4 years as Corporate Affairs Director at Geest plc, Clare set up her own consultancy and has been the Head of Transport Biofuels at the REA since September 2005.

Caroline Season, Senior Policy Adviser, Bioenergy, Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC)

Caroline’s role is to develop and deliver solid & gaseous biomass policy to optimise its contribution to UK climate and energy goals.  This builds on earlier work, as part of Defra, on Combined Heat & Power (CHP) policy and the drafting and launch of the UK SD Strategy, Securing the future - delivering UK sustainable development strategy.  Her previous employment spans from product management for BT plc where she was responsible for a portfolio of global satellite communication products, to providing strategy consultancy to online businesses.

Chris Slack,  Executive Chairman, W4BUK

Noel Forrest- Analyst of MGT Power

Noel is an Analyst and Head of Sustainability at MGT Power, working since 2008 on developing the 300MW Tees and Tyne Renewable Energy Plants, both in the North East of England, and the associated biomass fuel supply streams.  These large scale biomass power projects will be based at portside locations for optimal logistics and to enable delivery of sustainably sourced biomass from all around the Atlantic basin.  Noel joined MGT Power to collaborate in studying for an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London, which focussed on the upcoming global trade in sustainable biomass commodities.  This followed finance experience in energy industry equities research at Sanford C. Bernstein and a degree in ecological plant sciences from the University of Cambridge.

Andy Reese, Head of Welsh Assembly Government Waste Strategy Branch

Richard Start, Head of Development, British Sugar

Jayne Lomas- Exemplar Projects Manager of Homes and Communities Agency

Jayne Lomas is currently Manager of the Exemplar Programmes for the HCA. This includes the Millennium Communities, Design for Manufacture, the Carbon Challenge, and the new Public land Initiative.

Jayne is a qualified architect with a varied experience in the housing sector - having spent a decade working for an RSL in Manchester. Building on a personal interest in the modern methods agenda and using those technologies to ensure that homes perform at the highest level in terms of energy efficiency, the Exemplar programmes provide an excellent opportunity to take the next step and link in with renewable technologies to meet zero carbon aspirations.  Jayne sits on the CLG Code Advisory group bringing practical experience to the shaping of future Code iterations, and the Zero Carbon Hub - the public/private sector partnership tasked with facilitating the mainstream delivery of low and zero carbon homes.

Chris Manson-Whitton : Biomass Energy Manager at Progressive Energy

Chris is Head of Bioenergy at Progressive Energy, a project development company driving forward low carbon energy projects ranging from large scale carbon capture to distributed biomass and waste fuelled projects. He has created the bio-project development business stream predicated on both conventional and new technologies to provide renewable heat, bio-electricity and advanced biofuels. This builds on a combination of market knowledge, political engagement, economic and risk appraisal, grounded in sound science and engineering, to create successful projects in rapidly changing energy markets. In addition to project development activities, the Bioenergy team provides technical due diligence and trouble-shooting activities for investors, technology providers and public bodies in the sector.At a government policy level, he has been heavily involved in the Renewables Obligation, and the forthcoming Renewable Heat Incentive.
Prior to joining Progressive, he was responsible for new business development, encompassing the low carbon automotive sector, for a former Alcan company. Previously worked for various technology companies and engineering consultancies such as Ove Arup in the environmental, automotive and architectural sectors, developing products and authoring patents. He has a First Class Bachelor of Arts and Masters in Engineering from Cambridge and a Doctorate from Oxford.

Alex Young- Energy Director of New Earth Solutions

Senior IT Leader with successful execution in start-up, Fortune 500 and international organizations. Twenty year track record of collaborating with executives and staff in leading teams and Project Management Offices to plan, develop, implement, and operate technology solutions. Demonstrated success in working with customers, both external and internal, to set strategies, manage expectations, and deliver significant results.

Expertise in large scale program/ project management and organizational leadership. Recent responsibilities include professional services for business intelligence solutions to the health care industry, streamlining contracting and invoicing processes to ensure tighter signature-to-delivery controls, and implementation of project performance indicators. Significant experience in organizing and operating outsourced IT development teams has led to 25% reduction in annual contractual costs.

Michael Chesshire- Technology Director of Biogen Greenfinch

Michael Chesshire is a Cambridge University graduate with a first class degree in engineering. After a brief spell in the nuclear industry he left in 1975 to start a business to design and develop commercial anaerobic digesters (AD) for farms and sewage sludge.
This business was called Farmgas and it grew to 120 employees at its peak in 1992 having built more than 50 sewage sludge digesters. In 1993 Michael founded Greenfinch, a specialist AD company based in Ludlow which pioneered the AD of food waste by setting up a two-year trial of weekly household collections starting in 1999. This was followed by the construction of the biodigester in Ludlow which formed part of Defra’s demonstrator programme. In 2008 Greenfinch merged with Biogen to become BiogenGreenfinch, the UK’s leading company for the construction and operation of food waste AD plants, based on home-grown technology.
Michael is also a Director of the Renewable Energy Association, and is a visiting Professor at the University of Southampton. He has his own working digester at home where biogas is produced for cooking.

Kirsty Rice: Energy Manager, National Trust

Kirsty Rice has been the National Trust's Energy Manager for three years.  She is responsible for advising on national energy strategy and reduction targets, as well as well as providing technical advice to regions and properties on energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies.  Her background includes project, finance and grant management roles.  Her last position was as an engineering project manager for a local authority.

Peter Vadasz- Mayor of Güssing, Austria

Professor Tom Burke- Founding Director of E3G

Tom Burke is a hugely engaging and thought-provoking speaker.  He has been a professional environmentalist for 30 years, having been the statutory advisor to the Government on biodiversity from 1999-2005, the Special Advisor to three Secretaries of State for the Environment from 1991-97, and formerly the Director of the Green Alliance and Executive Director of Friends of the Earth.  He is a Founding Director of E3G, Third Generation Environmentalism. He is Chairman of the Editorial Board of ENDS magazine. In 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the Energy Institute. He also serves on the Advisory Council of the Carbon Disclosure Project. He is a Patron of the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association and a Vice-President of Environmental Protection UK.  Tom Burke is currently an Environmental Policy Adviser to Rio Tinto plc and a Visiting Professor at Imperial and University Colleges, London.

Lord Hunt - Energy Minister 2008-2010

In 1997, Hunt was created a life peer with the title Baron Hunt of Kings Heath, of Birmingham in the County of West Midlands. He served as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (PUSS) in the Department of Health from 1999 until his resignation in 2003 over the Invasion of Iraq. He was re-appointed to government in May 2005 as a PUSS at the Department for Work and Pensions. He returned to the Department of Health as Minister of State in January 2007 and then moved to the Ministry of Justice as a PUSS in July of that year. In the October 2008 government reshuffle, Lord Hunt became Minister of State in both the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the newly created Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), as well as acting as the Deputy Leader of the House of Lords. In the June 2009 reshuffle he left DEFRA to focus solely on his roles in the Lords and at the DECC. In May 2010, he left the DECC when Labour lost the general election.