Onshore Wind Conference 2020 Speakers

Derek Hastings

Head of Onshore Projects, SSE Renewables

Derek Hastings is Head of Onshore Projects at SSE Renewables, the leading developer and operator of renewable energy across the UK and Ireland. His wide-ranging role encompasses wind projects, including new and re-powering, as well as hydro and pump storage, and solar projects at scale in the UK and Ireland. Formerly with SSE Enterprise, Derek has worked in a wide variety of power sectors over the years, including wind, hydro, coal, CCGT, biomass conversion, energy from waste and CCS. Derek Hastings is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, with extensive experience in Project Development, Project Management, Engineering and General Management.

Keith Bell

Committee Member, Committee on Climate Change

Keith Bell holds the ScottishPower Chair in Smart Grids at the University of Strathclyde, is a co-Director of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) and, since April 2019, is a member of the Committee on Climate Change. He is also one of the Scientific Directors of the Electrical Infrastructure Research Hub, a collaboration between the universities of Strathclyde and Manchester and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. A Chartered Engineer, he has led many research projects in collaboration with academic and industrial partners and is involved with The IET Power Academy and the Conseil International des Grands Réseaux Electriques (CIGRE). In recent years, he has given advice on electricity system issues to the Scottish Government, Ofgem, the UK government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and the Government of Ireland.

Jamie Maxton

Head of External Relations, SSE Renewables

Jamie Maxton joined SSE Renewables in December 2019 as Head of External Relations (Scotland). He has over 20 years experience working at a senior level in public affairs and communications having began his career as a researcher as a researcher for the Scottish Labour Party during the 1997 General Election and Devolution Referendum.
Prior to joining SSE he had been Head of Government Relations for Virgin Money UK plc (previously CYBG plc) since 2013. He has also previously been a director of Greenhaus Communications, then Scotland’s largest public affairs agency and Head of Government Relations at ScottishPower.

Claire Mack

Chief Executive, Scottish Renewables

Claire has been Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, the representative voice of Scotland’s renewable energy industry, since October 2017. She is responsible for leading the organisation’s work to grow Scotland’s renewables sector and sustain its position at the forefront of the global clean energy industry.

Claire is a member of the First Minister’s Energy Advisory Board and the Renewable Energy Strategic Leadership Group, co-chaired by Scotland’s Energy Minister.

Before joining Scottish Renewables, Claire was Director of Policy and Place at the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. She has previously worked in various roles at Ofcom in Scotland, focusing on economic regulation of telecoms, radio spectrum and the mail market while also looking at developing digital participation of individuals and businesses.

Prior to this Claire worked in retail and the construction industry as well as on regulation of regional broadcasting in the Borders and North East of England.

Nick Sharpe

Director of Communications & Strategy, Scottish Renewables

Nick Sharpe is Scottish Renewables’ Director of Communications & Strategy. His work involves overseeing Scottish Renewables’ media and public affairs work and liaising between the organisation’s member companies, the media and other stakeholders to promote positive news about the sector to diverse audiences.

A former journalist, Nick trained on the South Wales Echo then spent seven years at the Sun, latterly as Chief Reporter. He then spent a year at Weber Shandwick, one of the world’s largest public relations consultancies.

At Scottish Renewables he’s also responsible for aspects of marketing and all the organisation’s social media.

Rachel Anderson

Head of External Affairs, RES

Rachel Anderson is RES’ Head of External Affairs. At the forefront of the industry for over 38 years, RES has delivered more than 17 GW of renewable energy projects across the globe and supports an operational asset portfolio exceeding 5.5 GW worldwide for a large client base. Rachel has worked in the renewables industry for 13 years and is responsible for RES’ public affairs, communications, media relations and community liaison. She has worked across all jurisdictions within the UK&I, on a range of different technologies – offshore wind, onshore wind, solar and energy storage, throughout the full project lifecycle from inception to generation. Rachel chairs the Northern Ireland Renewables Industry Group (NIRIG) and is a Director of Scottish Renewables.

Jennifer Ballantyne

Partner, Pinsent Masons LLP

Jennifer heads up the Energy focus within Pinsent Masons UK Planning and Environment team. In relation to energy work, Jennifer advises landowners, developers and funders on the property, planning and environmental aspects of schemes across the UK including interconnector and grid connection projects, wind farms (onshore and offshore), hydro, solar, biomass and wave and tidal. Jennifer is dual qualified in Scots and English laws.

Stephanie Conesa

Policy Manager, Scottish Renewables

Stephanie is a policy manager at Scottish Renewables, focussing on large scale renewable energy generation. She leads the organisation’s planning and consents work, working toward securing the optimum planning framework for the growth of onshore and offshore renewables at the national, regional and local level in Scotland.

As part of her role, Stephanie has regular engagement with key decision makers and represents the industry across a range of government and agency groups on members’ behalf.

Prior to joining Scottish Renewables Stephanie worked for a renewable energy developer, managing the organisation’s policy positions as well as leading its licensing and consenting process.

Eleri Davies

Head of Consents UK – Onshore Wind, RWE Renewables

Eleri is a Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute with extensive experience of energy infrastructure consenting from both private and public sector perspectives. She is currently Head of Consents for the onshore wind team at RWE Renewables UK Ltd providing strategic direction and advice on planning and consenting matters across the portfolio. After graduating from Cardiff University, Eleri started her career in development management at the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority before making a move to the civil service advising on nationally significant infrastructure projects for the Infrastructure Planning Commission and the Planning Inspectorate. After seven years in the public sector, Eleri moved into the private sector joining RWE npower renewables (as it was then) as a Renewables Developer to gain a more rounded understanding of the development process, but she has since moved back to her planning roots.

Gordon Mina

Head of Sales, Renewable Parts

Gordon Mina is the Head of Sales for Renewable Parts and leads the businesses Sales and Marketing across the UK and Europe. He joined the energy industry following an Environmental Sustainability MSc. at Edinburgh Napier University.

Gordon has a proven track record helping organisations in business development and renewable energy working with customers globally with SgurrEnergy (Wood Group) and Senvion in Business Development and Account Management positions and has presented at events worldwide.

Morag Watson

Director of Policy, Scottish Renewables

Morag is Scottish Renewables’ Director of Policy. Her work involves overseeing Scottish Renewables’ policy function and key projects within Scotland’s leading renewables trade body, working on behalf of 250+ organisations to grow Scotland’s renewable energy sector and sustain its position at the forefront of the global clean energy industry.

Morag has worked in policy for over 15 year and was previously a Senior Policy Officer with WWF Scotland, specialising in climate change, sustainable development and behaviour change.