Low-Carbon Heat Conference 2021 Speakers

John Barclay

Associate Director, ITPEnergised

John is an Associate Director with ITPEnergised and has 29 years’ experience both as a practising engineer and latterly as an energy consultant. John now provides energy efficiency, Net Zero and renewables advice to a wide range of clients. In the low carbon heat sector, he has worked with organisations such as The Scottish Government, EGGER, Pernod Ricard, Bruichladdich and Mackies amongst others. John has been involved in the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme for over 4 years providing both technical due diligence and client engineer support to Scottish Government. He is a Chartered Energy Manager, ESOS Lead Assessor, ISO50001 Practitioner and Registered EnCO Consultant.

Teresa Bray

Chief Executive, Changeworks

Teresa has been Chief Executive of Changeworks since 2008. Under her leadership, the organisation has grown from 50 employees in Edinburgh to Scotland’s leading environmental charity delivering low carbon living across Scotland.

She has a wider role in Scotland as part of the Climate Emergency Response Group which aims to inform and influence the Scottish Government’s response to the climate emergency and involvement in fuel poverty advisory groups

Gillian Campbell

Communications and Public Affairs Lead, Existing Homes Alliance Scotland

Gillian is Communications and Public Affairs Lead with the Existing Homes Alliance (EHA), a coalition of consumer, anti-poverty, social housing, industry and environmental groups. The EHA works across sectors and government at all levels to shape the policy, regulatory and funding framework so that it delivers the scale of retrofit needed to ensure Scotland meets climate change and fuel poverty targets.

In addition to supporting the EHA, Gillian is an independent housing consultant with wide-ranging skills and experience that have been developed through working with local and national government, registered social landlords and national membership organisations for nearly 25 years. From frontline housing management to strategic development and business planning, Gillian has supported numerous organisations to develop their approaches.

Ben Carter

Account Director, Vattenfall Heat UK

I want to ensure that environmental sustainability is placed at the very centre of modern energy systems and the transition to zero carbon living. As such, I have chosen to advocate for - and support the development of - renewable energy projects. Adopting a fossil free ethos and choosing renewable energy is a way to reconnect to the natural abundance we all can enjoy. We can then change the role of the economy from sucking up resources to constantly reusing and replenishing them. I want to meet with key stakeholders to understand their energy needs and work with them to figure out how to address them through integrating beautiful and bountiful low carbon energy.

Charlie Drysdale

Project Development Manager, SSE Energy Solutions

Charlie is Project Development Manager for SSE Energy Solutions with a core focus on heat and decentralised energy. Based in Scotland, Charlie brings his experience in developing and delivering decentralised energy projects. His career-to-date has been in the energy sector and as a CIBSE accredited Heat Network Consultant he is passionate about the UK’s challenge to decarbonise heating. Having supported the Working Groups that developed the Heat Networks Bill (Scotland), he understands the need for the right regulatory landscape to enable both the public and private sector to work together to meet these goals.

Grant Feasey

Senior Design Engineer, AES Solar

A Chartered Engineer, Grant is an expert in the field of Solar Energy and its integration with existing and new building stock. Initially leading the development of AES’ latest solar thermal flat plate collector he has been responsible for the deployment of hundreds of Solar energy systems. Grant works with a range of clients and stakeholders on a daily basis from individual home and business owners to property developers and public sector organisations to help them develop and implement the best solutions for them to achieve environmentally and economically sustainable energy generation.

He is a member of several industry working groups including with Solar Energy UK and MCS and leads AES contribution as the UK industry participant in the IEA-SHC (International Energy Agency Solar Heating and Cooling) research and dissemination tasks.

He also leads AES contribution to innovation activities including innovate UK and Scottish Funding Council supported projects.

John Maslen

ParkPower Programme Manager, greenspace scotland

John has a background as a small business entrepreneur initially developing software products then, over the last 10 years, leading a renewable energy services company. He joined greenspace scotland in early 2019 to lead their ParkPower Programme although has recently moved on to a position with Locogen to support the development of their consultancy services.

John led the research work for greenspace scotland to understand the potential of urban green and blue spaces across Scotland to address the challenge of heat decarbonisation. This work was supported by consultants Ramboll and Locogen, involved a large number of public bodies across Scotland and has produced national guidance, reports and datasets now available through the Improvement Service. The data will support strategic heat masterplanning and the development of Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies.

Eddie McAvinchey

Executive Director – Sustainable Investment, The Scottish National Investment Bank

Eddie has spent nearly 20 years working corporate law, banking and corporate finance, and has a long held interest in sustainable energy issues. He started his career as a corporate lawyer, during which time he worked on his first renewables transaction – the sale of what is now the 156MW Griffin wind farm. He subsequently moved into corporate banking with Clydesdale Bank, where he was latterly Head of Renewable Energy and formed the bank’s first dedicated Renewable Energy team, designing the bank’s project finance offering. More recently, during his time as Head of Corporate Finance at an Edinburgh based advisory boutique, his role included advising developers of both large scale wind farms and energy storage projects as well as cleantech companies on fundraisings, sale processes and wider strategic matters.

Eddie recently joined the Scottish National Investment Bank, where he is an Executive Director in Sustainable Investment. He leads the Bank’s origination activities with a particular focus on Sustainable Energy initiatives. Eddie is passionate about supporting companies and project which have the potential to make a meaningful impact in our efforts to achieve Net Zero, as well as bring wider benefits to Scotland’s places and people.

Lori McElroy

Professor of Architecture, University of Strathclyde

Dr Lori McElroy MBE is a Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Strathclyde. She is the current Chair of the Existing Homes Alliance in Scotland. Lori has a background spanning architecture and sustainable design and has been active in the energy and environment field for over 25 years with a particular interest in building performance appraisal and the role of performance monitoring in improving our understanding of how people use buildings, in order that our approaches to retrofit make sense and deliver against expectations.

Lori has been a member of numerous energy and sustainability working groups for the Scottish Government including chairing the recent Short Life working Group on Energy Performance Assessment, the Compliance and Energy Working Groups for Scottish Building Standard, and the 2024 New Build Heat Standard.

Helen Melone

Senior Policy Manager, Scottish Renewables

Helen Melone is Senior Policy Manager - Heat and Small-Scale Renewables at Scottish Renewables, covering all aspects of heat and hydrogen policy. Her work involves managing and supporting the development of Scottish Renewables’ policy positions, which aim to create the conditions for the sustainable growth of Scotland’s renewable energy industry and communicating these effectively to key policy and regulatory decision makers.

Helen has worked in policy for over 6 years and was previously a policy and research officer with Energy Action Scotland, specialising in fuel poverty legislation and fuel poverty research.

Dr Alison Monaghan

Principal Geologist, British Geological Survey

Dr Alison Monaghan is a principal geologist based at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh. She currently leads the science delivery of UK Geoenergy Observatory in Glasgow, an underground laboratory focussing on shallow mine water geothermal and heat storage, environmental change and impact. Alison has a comprehensive knowledge of Carboniferous geology and geoenergy onshore Scotland and offshore UK.

Paul Steen

Regional Director for Scotland and North, Vattenfall

Paul sets the direction and strategy for Vattenfall Heat UK in the North region. He is responsible for the delivery of the strategy by building relationships with key stakeholders and working collaboratively with colleagues to identify solutions that are aligned with our partner's needs and our focus on decarbonising heat.

Graham Wallace

Senior Associate, Pinsent Masons LLP

Graham is an experienced solicitor specialising in the property aspects of a range of energy and other projects. He advises clients in respect of a variety of developments, particularly district heating, onshore and offshore wind farms, solar farms and battery storage. Recent low carbon heat projects he has been / continues to be involved in include the Glenrothes Energy Network, the Battersea Power Station redevelopment, Shawfair Town heat network and Monkerton heat network. Graham also sits on the District Heating Loan Fund's advisory panel, providing expert opinion to steer government investment into heat networks in Scotland.

Professor Janette Webb

Co-Director UK Energy Research Centre, University of Edinburgh

Janette Webb MBE FEI is Edinburgh University Professor of Sociology of Organisations, Co-Director of the UK Energy Research Centre, and member of the Scottish Science Advisory Council and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Energy Science Advisory Committee. Her research concerns social studies of energy and climate change. With funding from UKRI, she is studying European comparative heat and energy efficiency policy, and local and regional energy systems. Further work is evaluating the Energy Efficient Scotland Pilots.

She was awarded an MBE for services to the energy transition in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2020. She is a Fellow of the Energy Institute and member of Scottish Power Energy Networks RIIO-ED2 Customer Engagement Group. Her research contributes to policy: she recently served as a member of the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland; and has advised Scottish Government on Fuel Poverty and Low Carbon Infrastructure. She is a member of UK Government BEIS research evaluation group, and Adviser to the UKRI Industrial Strategy Challenge Prospering from the Energy Revolution. She chaired the UK Committee on Climate Change 2016 Advisory Group on Energy Efficiency and Heat.