Renewable Futures Conference Speakers

	Matt Allen Pivot Power Matt Allen is the chief executive officer at Pivot Power. Pivot Power is developing a world-first national network of grid-scale batteries and rapid electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, to support a cost-effective, reliable, low-carbon energy system and enable rapid adoption of clean transport.
	Katie Black National Infrastructure Commission Katie is Director of Policy at the National Infrastructure Commission, the body responsible for providing independent analysis and advice to the Government to ensure the UK meets its long-term infrastructure needs. Katie joined the Commission upon its creation in 2015 and led the policy work on transport, energy and digital for the National Infrastructure Assessment. Prior to this she worked in various roles across the Department of Energy and Climate Change and undertook a secondment to an electricity retailer.
	Chris Clarke Wales & West Utilities A chartered engineer and experienced operations manager, Chris has over 30 years’ experience within the UK gas industry. This has included posts in design, construction and safety prior to becoming director of asset management, safety and environment at Wales & West Utilities. Chris has a BSc Honours degree in Natural Gas Engineering, is a chartered safety professional (CMIOSH), a Fellow of the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers (FIGEM) and a past President of IGEM. Chris is responsible for Wales & West Utilities HS&E team, the asset investment team, system operation team and leads the company’s Future of Energy work.
	Toby Ferenczi OVO Energy Toby is the director of strategy at OVO. Prior to his current role, Toby was COO and MD of VCharge, an award winning tech company acquired by OVO Group in 2016. Before joining VCharge, Toby was CEO of Hanergy Solar UK, one of Europe’s largest residential solar installers. At Hanergy he launched a partnership with IKEA, making it possible to buy PV through its stores in four countries. His previous experience includes founding Engensa (a solar company sold to Hanergy) and working for General Electric in renewable energy. Toby has a PhD in solar energy from Imperial College London, and a BA and MSci in Physics from Cambridge University.
	Bridgit Hartland-Johnson Orsted Bridgit is an energy storage expert based in the UK and working for the Orsted Energy Storage and Solar team. She is dedicated to developing storage solutions that enable and accelerate a greener future.
	Marek Kubik Fluence Marek leads Fluence’s UK and Ireland client solutions team and is responsible for overseeing Energy Storage sales and project proposals across UK&I, the Middle East and Africa. He has 8 years engineering and sustainability experience, including an instrumental role in the UK’s first commercial battery storage array in 2015 and the world record breaking 120MW portfolio transaction with UKPR. A tech futurist and TEDx speaker, Marek was also named a 2017 honouree of the Forbes 30 Under 30; a list that recognises the most important young entrepreneurs and industry leaders.
	Cathy McClay National Grid System Operator Cathy McClay is head of commercial operations at National Grid System Operator. In this role she is responsible for delivering the strategy and tools to the electricity control room to balance the system in real time. This includes responsibility for the delivery of the CfD and capacity auctions and the procurement of balancing services from both generation and demand side. Much of this work is on developing the balancing markets to increase participation by removing barriers to entry. Closer to real time her team is responsible for demand forecasting, margin forecasting and trading.
	Erik Nygard Limejump Erik is the chief executive and co-founder of Limejump. While at Centrica, Erik decided that generators and businesses did not have many opportunities to be proactive when managing electricity. With Ning Zang, Erik created Limejump to provide a better proposition for customers and businesses. Most recently Limejump has won the Bloomberg New Energy Pioneer award for 2018 and manages the largest portfolio of battery assets in the United Kingdom. Limejump is leading the development of the Virtual Power Plant concept to create the Future of Energy.
	Afsheen Rashid Repowering London Afsheen is Co-founder Director & CEO at Repowering London and sits as Chair of the Brixton Energy Solar Co-operatives, the UK’s first inner city community-owned solar power stations. A former Senior Policy Advisor at the Department of Energy and Climate Change and as current Chair of Community Energy England and a member of the Ministerial Local Energy Contact Group Afsheen remains influential in both local and national community energy decision making. Afsheen is a Trustee of Friends of the Earth and an advisor to several organisations. Afsheen has a MA in Geography and MEnv in Environment, Science and Society and an Honorary Doctorate. Afsheen was awarded an MBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours List for her work in renewable energy in deprived London communities.
	Stewart Reid Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks Stewart is the head of DSO and innovation, within Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, with the remit of introducing new and better ways of managing the electricity networks, translating these new ideas into business as usual and managing the transition of the business from a Distribution Network Operator (DNO) to a Distribution System Operator (DSO). He has worked in the electricity industry since 1983 and has been involved in managing electricity networks across the UK, in a range of roles including operations manager, planner, policy engineer and project manager (IT and power engineering). He is a Fellow of the IET and a Chartered Engineer.
	Ed Simpson Downing LLP Ed is a partner at Downing and is the head of the Energy and Infrastructure team. Downing has invested over £500m into the sector. Ed qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1998 before moving into corporate finance where he advised on over 20 M&A, growth and venture capital transactions for a range of private companies. He has been working in private equity since 2006, most recently advising the Carbon Trust on its venture investments and prior to that, with Bridges Ventures with focus on the environmental sector. Ed has transacted over 30 deals in the energy and infrastructure space with a focus on projects ranging from £1-20 million.
	Ben Watts Engie UK and Ireland Ben has over 18 years’ experience in the field of sustainable energy, having led the development, commercialisation and management of many decentralised energy projects across the UK with both public and private sector partners. In 2017, Ben was appointed to his current role, with responsibility for innovation and strategic development programmes across ENGIE’s regeneration, services and energy sectors.