Onshore Wind Conference 2026 Speakers

Ralph Berg

Chief Commercial Officer, Spoor

Ralph Berg is Chief Commercial Officer at Spoor, the Norwegian company using computer vision and AI to monitor bird activity and interactions with turbines at onshore and offshore wind farms. Spoor's systems have processed over 250,000 hours of video monitoring and identified over 4 mln million birds for operators including RWE, Vattenfall and Iberdrola. Ralph leads the company’s commercial work across 4 continents, where Spoor’ technology supports permitting, repowering, collision monitoring, and research projects. A recent 19-month study at Vattenfall’s Aberdeen Bay offshore wind farm recorded more than 137,000 bird detections near an operating turbine, with zero confirmed collisions.

Stefanie Bourne

Partner, Renewables (UK & Ireland), DNV

Stefanie leads DNV's Renewables Segment across the UK and Irish markets, bringing 19 years of experience in climate research and renewable energy. Beginning her career as an atmospheric scientist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, she transitioned into renewable energy development and has since led projects and teams across North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Her expertise includes renewable energy development, feasibility studies, project due diligence, and energy transition strategy. Stefanie is an active contributor to industry initiatives including Women in Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE) and the Power Curve Working Group. She was recognised on A Word About Wind's 2022 European Power List for her leadership and influence in the renewable energy sector.

Paul Cantwell

Manager, Material Value Chain, Zero Waste Scotland

Paul Cantwell is a specialist in industrial innovation, manufacturing and the circular economy, with over 20 years’ experience spanning engineering, research and industry collaboration.  Paul currently leads Zero Waste Scotland's work on Material Value Chains, Valorisation of byproducts and the Bioeconomy Roadmap to Circularity. 

Prior to joining Zero Waste Scotland, Paul spent over a decade at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) and the University of Strathclyde, most recently serving as the Head of Net Zero Programs. In this role, he was instrumental in developing manufacturing roadmaps and driving resource-efficient remanufacturing strategies for high-value sectors, including wind energy and aerospace. Notably, Paul serves as the Circular Economy Lead on the Scottish Government’s Onshore Wind Strategic Leadership Group, advising in the opportunities in advancing sustainable practices within the sector.

Shane Corcoran

Head of NI Policy, RenewableNI

Shane Corcoran is Head of NI Policy at RenewableNI. He oversees the organisation's policy portfolio and plays a leading role in shaping RenewableNI's stakeholder engagement, political engagement and public affairs work. Shane works closely with government, elected representatives, regulators, network operators and industry stakeholders, representing the sector on the key issues affecting Northern Ireland's energy transition.

Daniel Cox

Deputy Director, Renewable Electricity Strategy, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Dan is the Deputy Director for Renewable Electricity at DESNZ, where he is responsible for increasing deployment of onshore wind, solar and renewables on public land. Following the reversal of the onshore wind ban in England, Dan and his team led the Onshore Wind Taskforce, and have set up the Onshore Wind Council which has now met 4 times. Put simply, the work of the Council is to break down barriers to future deployment to help us meet our 2030 clean power goals and beyond. Dan also has over a decade of experience in delivering major transport infrastructure projects.

Becky Fowell

Project Manager, Regen

Becky Fowell is a project manager at Regen, working at the intersection of electricity networks, energy markets and renewable energy development. Her work supports developers, network operators, policymakers and public sector organisations in navigating the challenges of delivering a decarbonised energy system.

Becky leads Regen's work on repowering, including its recent report, A Second Wind, which sets out the policy, regulatory and commercial changes needed to unlock onshore wind repowering across GB, alongside practical recommendations to address planning, grid and market barriers while supporting community engagement and circularity.

Nick Hibberd

Policy Manager, RenewableUK

Nick is Policy Manager for Market Design and Economics and RenewableUK. Nick leads RenewableUK's work on the Contracts for Difference Scheme and long-term electricity market reform during the REMA process and now on Reformed National Pricing. Nick has been at RenewableUK for 3.5 years and is focused on delivering the market framework that maximises the value of a renewables-based electricity system.

Matthieu Hue

Chief Executive Officer, EDF power solutions UK and Ireland

Matthieu Hue has more than 20 years’ experience within the EDF Group, in the energy sector and particularly in renewable energy.

Matthieu joined EDF in the year 2000. He worked on the formation of EDF Renewables UK and Ireland and joined the company when established in 2008. Actively involved in the successful expansion of the company to EDF power solutions UK and Ireland, Matthieu is now leading a team of almost 700 people who are involved in every stage of delivering renewables projects from development and construction to asset management.

The company has an ambitious development pipeline of projects to achieve 10GW by 2035.

In July 2024, Matthieu was made co-chair of the new Onshore Wind Taskforce set up by Secretary of State for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband. Together they will lead industry and government to create practical solutions to accelerate the journey to net zero.

Matthieu has a master in economics from the University of Paris and an MBA from Columbia and London Business School.

James Gibson

Partner, Eversheds Sutherland

James is a partner at global law firm Eversheds Sutherland, where he leads the Scottish planning practice. James is a specialist energy consenting lawyer who advises developers on major energy infrastructure projects both in Scotland and across the UK including many of the largest onshore wind farm proposals and repowering applications. James is also experienced in advising on consenting offshore wind energy, solar energy, battery storage, and other low carbon technologies. James is a member of SR sector deal EIA working group and SR legal working group, SPF Planning and Development Committee, and National Infrastructure Planning Association. He is involved in various initiatives relevant to onshore wind consenting including legal advice to the Eskdalemuir Working Group.

Fiona Lindsay

Managing Director, ReBlade

Fiona Lindsay is the CEO and Co-Founder of Reblade, where she leads full-service wind farm decommissioning and asset recovery across the UK. With a strong track record in clean energy infrastructure, Fiona specializes in helping site operators manage repowering transitions safely, efficiently, and cost-effectively. She has spearheaded Reblade’s technical innovations in composite material recovery, including the development of BladeBoard®. Fiona is passionate about working closely with industry bodies, developers, and regional supply chains to ensure wind decommissioning delivers lasting economic growth and regional job retention.

Hannah Lucey

Technical Consultant, Pager Power

Hannah is a Technical Consultant assisting developers in assessing, managing, and overcoming technical planning issues primarily for wind, solar, and building developments. She liaises closely with planning authorities and other key stakeholders, drawing on extensive experience across Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) and Development Consent Orders (DCOs), as well as international developments. Her technical expertise spans aviation safeguarding, glint and glare, telecommunications, and radar impact assessments, among other specialisms. Internationally, Hannah works to ensure project approaches remain aligned with local policy and regulatory requirements.

Sabrina Malpede

Director, ACT Blade

Dr. Sabrina Maria Malpede is the Managing Director and co-founder of ACT Blade. She brings over two decades of expertise in pioneering innovative technologies for the marine and renewable energy sectors. An aerospace engineer with a PhD from the University of Glasgow, Sabrina has transitioned cutting-edge research into globally commercialized products. Under her leadership, ACT Blade developed the ACT100, certified to be retrofitted on 2MW turbine, for optimization and life extension purposes. An award-winning innovator, her honors include the UK Government’s European Tech Woman Award in Clean Energy and the EIT Public Award.

Andy Mills

Director – Terrain, OWC

Andy is a peatland geomorphologist with over 27 years’ experience assessing and interpreting peatlands, and has supported renewable energy and grid projects across Scotland, Wales and England. Andy was lead technical author of the Scottish Government Peat Landslide Hazard and Risk Assessment Best Practice Guide in 2007 and its 2017 revision. He was lead technical checker on behalf of the Scottish Government for reports submitted under the guidance between 2007 and 2013 and from 2015 to 2018. He has worked with NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION team in assessing and mitigating landslide risks associated with peat restoration activities and sits on Scottish Government’s Peatland Expert Advisory Group (PEAG). As such, Andy has a unique understanding of the key issues relating to peat stability, peat management and peatland restoration in association with built infrastructure. He has successfully defended both his own work and the work of others in relation to peatlands as a peat expert witness for wind farms in both Wales and Scotland.

Gillian Noble

Managing Director for Onshore Origination and Development, ScottishPower Renewables

Gillian is currently the Managing Director for Onshore Origination and Development at ScottishPower Renewables (SPR), where she leads the acceleration of Onshore Renewables growth for the company across Wind, Solar and BESS technologies. Prior to this, Gillian held the role of Managing Director for Offshore Development and Operations across the UK and Ireland where she provided leadership to SPR’s UK offshore activities, focused on delivering SPR’s existing UK operational Offshore windfarms and developing the portfolio, including SPR’s ScotWind projects. Having joined ScottishPower in 2000 she has held a number of senior management roles across the company and prior to her move to Renewables was Sales Director in the ScottishPower Customer Business where she led the delivery of core energy customer acquisition targets, Power Purchase Agreements and Smart Solutions customer sales. Gillian was appointed as a Scottish Renewables Board member in January 2026, having previously been a member of the DESNZ Onshore Taskforce and also performed the role of Chair of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council Developer Forum.

Luca Prosdocimi

Head of Energy Markets, Nadara

Luca Prosdocimi is Head of Energy Markets at Nadara, leading the company’s energy market activities, including power trading, portfolio optimization, PPA origination and the commercialization of renewable and storage assets. He has more than 10 years of experience in European energy markets. In addition, he serves as CEO of the Group’s energy trading company and its international branches, supporting Nadara’s growth and energy transition strategy.

Ben Robinson

Business Development Manager, Dulas

Ben started his career in renewable energy as a trainee at Dulas in 1999 in the solar department, designing ground mounts and producing technical drawings and system manuals for their famous solar vaccine refrigerators. Having worked up to director level, after three years on the board he moved over in 2012 to look after business development at DulasMHH, the divested solar wholesale department, that eventually rebranded to BayWa r.e. Solar Systems. Instrumental in delivering small scale wind, solar thermal and solar PV as a Framework Supplier for Phase 2 of The Low Carbon Building Programme, secured by Dulas and rebranded as ‘The Low Carbon Partnership’ he was then responsible for securing Dulas’ largest ever social housing solar PV contract for First Wessex. Whilst at BayWa r.e. he secured two of their largest ever solar wholesale supply projects for Five Fords Water Treatment Works and Greater Manchester Waste Authority. Ben then returned to Dulas on a part-time basis in 2024 after 6 years in wholesale, followed by 6 years as director of installation companies Cambridge Solar and Exeo Energy. His current various business activities include being a director of AgriTechTalk International CIC and a partner at Smugglers Cove Boatyard, amongst other things.

James Robinson

Country Manager & Senior Sales Director, Vestas

James is Country Manager & Senior Sales Director for UK and Ireland at Vestas, with over 15 years’ experience in the wind industry. He has worked across the value chain for utilities, OEMs and consultancy, spanning sales, development, construction, procurement and advisory. James specialises in leading complex commercial negotiations and building long-term, trust-based partnerships with customers. He has a strong track record of delivering customer success stories through structured, collaborative deal-making, and is passionate about accelerating execution and fostering collaboration to deliver successful outcomes.

James Robottom

Head of Onshore Wind Delivery, RenewableUK

James is Head of Onshore Wind Delivery at RenewableUK. James leads RenewableUK's work on onshore wind, taking a leading industry role in the Government's onshore wind strategy and goals for up to 29GW of capacity by 2030. James has spent over a decade working in the energy industry, looking at energy, renewables and climate across communications, public affairs and policy for trade associations and membership bodies.

Michael Swarte

Senior Account Executive, Whiffle

Michael Swarte is a Senior Account Executive at Whiffle, a deep-tech company providing high-resolution weather and wind modelling solutions to support the development and operation of renewable energy projects. With an academic background in economics and professional experience across the software and modelling industries, Michael combines commercial expertise with a strong understanding of complex technical solutions.

At Whiffle, he works with energy companies, wind developers, and other industry stakeholders to help them leverage high-resolution weather and wind modelling for better decision-making in renewable energy projects. His focus is on translating advanced modelling technology into practical business value, building long-term customer relationships, and identifying opportunities where data and software can improve project development and performance.

Will Russell

PPA Business Development Manager, SmartestEnergy

Will Russell is a Business Development Manager at SmartestEnergy, where he works with generators and developers to deliver long-term, bankable routes to market for renewable and flexible assets. Specialising in Power Purchase Agreements and innovative contract structures, he helps customers maximise asset value and navigate an increasingly complex energy market with confidence.

Prior to joining SmartestEnergy, Will spent several years at Innova Renewables and Ingenious Group, where he gained extensive experience originating, structuring and negotiating energy deals. His commercial expertise and market insight help developers navigate evolving market dynamics, maximise their projects' potential and secure long-term routes-to-market that support project success.

Sam Street

Director, Frontier Economics

Sam is a Director in Frontier’s Energy Practice with over 20 years’ experience as an economist in government and consulting. He specialises in electricity market design, regulation, policy appraisal and investor due diligence. In the GB market, he has been closely involved in the development of REMA and, more recently, RNP policy. In particular, he has worked with DESNZ, Ofgem and a range of industry clients to assess how different approaches to locational signals and the design of support mechanisms affect investors.

Pryderi Thomas

Legal Counsel, Bute Energy

Pryderi is the lead legal counsel at Bute Energy, an Edinburgh-based developer of onshore wind projects in Wales. Having qualified as a solicitor in 2009, Pryderi initially worked as a defendant insurance litigation solicitor, before moving to Edinburgh in August 2014 to study for a Carbon Management MSc degree at the University of Edinburgh. Since then, Pryderi has worked as a renewable energy projects lawyer in both private practice and in-house, and has held a number of senior roles at renewable energy developers. Pryderi has extensive experience of the many and varied legal issues that arise in the course of the development of a large pipeline of onshore renewable energy projects, with particular experience of corporate power purchase agreements and route to market agreements.

Ajai Ahluwalia

Head of Supply Chain, RenewableUK

With over 15 years in the Offshore Wind industry Ajai has a broad commercial and deep technical and experience, having worked across the development, engineering, construction and operations phases of various projects for several organisations which include Equinor and ScottishPower Renewables.

His grounding in electrical engineering has seen him resolve technical problems and commission turbines through to substations as an individual engineer and team lead.

As the Head of Supply Chain, at RenewableUK, Ajai is now focused on making sure industry and global supply chains can deliver upon the UK’s ambitious offshore wind deployment targets, and seeing how opportunities in UK supply chain can be realised.

Barry Carruthers

Chief Strategy Officer, Global

Barry joined the Global team in 2026, following many years in the energy sector at a major utility. He has worked across renewables technologies including green hydrogen, and as a Managing Director for UK & Ireland, overseen development projects, construction activities and operational assets. He has led multiple programmes and Boards in industry and academic collaboration as well as serving as industry Chair for the Scottish Onshore Wind Sector Deal. He has held operational responsibilities in investments, communications, cybersecurity and engineering, and is now focused on growth and acquisition strategy across the energy system and cross-sector supply chain.

Laura Cooper

Senior Social and Supply Chain Sustainability Manager, SSE Renewables

Laura Cooper is SSE Renewables' Senior Social and Supplier Sustainability Lead, responsible for the development and implementation of the company's social impact and sustainable procurement strategies. With over a decade of experience working within procurement and supply chain management, Laura’s background is in supply chain management and sustainable development, with a deep knowledge in human rights and an active interest in social impact.

James Curtis

Head of Aviation & Defence, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

As Head of Aviation and Defence for Onshore Wind at DESNZ, I lead cross-government efforts to address aviation and defence constraints on wind energy deployment. This includes developing policy, managing stakeholder relationships with the MOD, DfT, CAA, Met Office and industry, overseeing relevant workstreams, and advising ministers on these issues. I am responsible for advancing solutions to radar, seismic and airspace impacts, enabling onshore wind projects while protecting national security, defence capabilities and aviation safety.

Kathleen Davis

Head of Transmission, Commercial and Policy, SP Energy Networks

Kathleen Davis is currently Head of Transmission Commercial and Policy at SP Energy Networks, where she helps shape commercial strategy and policy to support the delivery of critical energy infrastructure and the transition to a net-zero economy.
With 14 years+ experience, she has held senior commercial and strategy roles across the energy, transport and innovation sectors.

Alongside her current role, Kathleen is a Non-Executive Board Member at City of Glasgow College, contributing strategic insight on governance, innovation, and skills development.
Previously, Kathleen was Chief Commercial Officer at PNDC (University of Strathclyde), leading commercial growth, stakeholder engagement, and industry collaboration in support of energy innovation. Her career also includes roles at Doosan Babcock and Rolls Royce, spanning engineering, business development and commercial management.

Heidi Douglas-Osborn

Senior Policy Analyst, RenewableUK

Heidi has worked at RenewableUK for the past 2.5 years, focusing on onshore wind and aviation. She works to support coexistence between the wind and aviation sectors, helping to enable the deployment of wind projects across the UK. Her remit also covers technical challenges affecting wind energy development, including non-aviation radar interference and noise assessments.

Paul Hewett

CEO, Belltown Power

Paul Hewett is CEO of Belltown Power UK, a renewable energy developer fully focused on the UK market. Paul has 13 years of experience across the full project cycle, from development, through funding and construction, into operations and now with repowering through Belltown's dedicated brand Belltown RePower. He has worked across onshore wind, solar, battery storage and hydro. Paul is also an active member of the Scottish Onshore Wind Developers Forum, a coalition of onshore wind developers and operators established to engage directly with policymakers, regulators, stakeholders, and government with the aim of promoting and ensuring the longevity of the onshore wind industry in Scotland.

Euan Hutchison

UK Development Director, Fred. Olsen Renewables

Euan is currently UK Development Director for Fred. Olsen Renewables. Euan started his career in renewable energy over 30 years ago taking a lead in the preparation of Dumfries and Galloway Council's first ever wind farm strategy. Since moving to the private sector in 2008 Euan has helped consent over 1GW of onshore wind, solar and biomass generation across the UK and Ireland. Throughout this time he has continuously contributed to the development of planning and environmental policy at a national and local level as well as innovative solutions at a project level that have benefitted the wider industry.

Safana Judge

Spectrum Manager, Met Office

Safana Judge leads weather radar safeguarding activities at the Met Office, working with developers, industry bodies, government and other stakeholders to support coexistence between the UK's weather radar network and renewable energy development. Her work focuses on protecting the radar observations that underpin weather forecasts, flood warnings and severe weather response, while working with stakeholders to explore opportunities for long-term coexistence between weather radar and wind energy development. Safana is a strong advocate for collaborative working and constructive engagement to support both UK resilience and wider Net Zero ambitions.

Peter McCrory

Head of Grid, RenewableUK

Peter is Head of Grid at RenewableUK, the trade body representing the UK's renewable energy industry. He leads their work on electricity network policy, covering topics like grid connections, strategic planning and transmission charging.

Lucy Parsons

Development Support, Port of Inverness

After a decade in the City in the marine and infrastructure markets at Lloyds of London, Lucy moved to Scotland and has supported ports, governments, startups and enterprise agencies in the ports and offshore energy sectors for twenty years.

Her work has been wide ranging; ports and investment specialist at the DBT, advising on acquisitions, enabling a community to viably take on their own harbour and many harbour expansion plans in-between from hundreds of millions down to a few hundred thousand.

The common thread is realising the potential of our maritime infrastructure to sustain communities and economies.

Simon Peltenburg

Senior Director – UK Development, Boralex

Simon Peltenburg is Senior Development Director at Boralex UK, where he leads strategic project origination, development and delivery across the company’s onshore wind, solar and storage portfolio. Simon brings deep experience in renewable energy project leadership, commercial strategy and stakeholder engagement, helping to advance Boralex’s growth in the UK market.

Simon joined Boralex in November 2025, drawing on his 20+ years’ experience in the renewable energy sector. He has held senior roles in project delivery and clean energy leadership, being responsible for overseeing renewable energy project implementation and operational strategy.

Throughout his career, Simon has been involved in developing innovative renewable energy solutions that align with the needs of communities, partners and the evolving energy system. His work spans site identification, technical feasibility, commercial negotiations and multi stakeholder coordination, ensuring projects are developed responsibly and deliver long term value.

At Boralex, Simon is focused on scaling the UK development pipeline and strengthening the organisation’s delivery capabilities, leveraging his cross functional expertise to support project teams from early concept through to consent and build out.

Danielle Portsmouth

Future Skills Lead, ORE Catapult

Danielle Portsmouth is Future Skills Lead at Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, where she leads strategic initiatives to ensure the UK workforce is prepared for emerging clean energy technologies. She specialises in translating technology innovation into workforce capability, bringing together industry, education and government to develop evidence-based skills solutions. Danielle has led pioneering workforce foresighting programmes across offshore renewables and is driving the development of scalable workforce readiness approaches that support technology adoption and economic growth. She is passionate about creating stronger links between innovation and skills, helping build a resilient, future-ready workforce for the UK's net zero transition.

Giulia Privitera

Head of Sustainability & Stakeholder Engagement, Nadara

Giulia Privitera, Head of Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement, joined Nadara in 2022. She is responsible for leading, developing and delivering the company’s sustainability strategy. In her role she also oversees Nadara’s approach to community engagement, ensuring that it is tailored to the evolving needs of local communities and wider stakeholders, enhancing local acceptance and securing the social license to operate. Following her research in nanotechnology at the University of Cambridge, Giulia joined the energy sector in 2014, gaining over 12 years of experience in sustainability, electricity network innovation, electrification of transport and customers’ participation in energy market opportunities. She created UK Power Networks’ first sustainability action plan and led the development of their business plan on consumer vulnerability for the regulatory period 2023-2028. Giulia holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cambridge and a Master’s degree in Physics from the University of Pisa.

Nick Robson

Aviation Manager, SSE Renewables

Nick Robson is Aviation Manager at SSE Renewables, responsible for aviation matters affecting the company's onshore and offshore renewable energy portfolio across the UK and Ireland. He supports projects from early development through construction and operation, helping to identify aviation risks and working with stakeholders to develop proportionate solutions.
Nick has more than 38 years' experience in air traffic management, aviation, airspace policy and regulation. Before joining SSE, he led work within the Military Aviation Authority on regulatory frameworks for current and emerging aviation technologies, including unmanned aircraft systems, high altitude platforms and space launch activities. He also served as the UK Ministry of Defence's lead authority, embedded within the CAA, for national, European and global airspace policy, contributing to airspace modernisation and civil-military integration initiatives.
Throughout his career, Nick has worked with government, regulators, industry and military stakeholders on complex aviation issues, representing the UK in forums including EUROCONTROL, NATO and ICAO. His experience spans policy development, airspace management and the integration of new technologies within established aviation frameworks.

Helen Seagrave

Director, Local Energy, Great British Energy

Helen is Great British Energy’s director of Local Energy where she is responsible for developing and delivering the products and services that will support the development of community and local energy across the UK.

A chartered environmentalist with over twenty year’s experience of developing and delivering low carbon and renewable energy strategies and with experience of managing multi-million pound portfolio of energy and environmental projects.

Helen joined GBE with a wealth of experience in the community and local energy sector from previous roles with a community energy manager at Electricity North West and chair of Community Energy England.

Craig Whelton

Partner (Planning), Shepherd and Wedderburn

Craig is Tier 1 ranked in the legal directories for planning and specialises in the consenting of energy projects across the UK. He advises on all aspects of the promotion and consenting of onshore wind projects, including site appraisal and consenting strategy, EIA/HRA, s.36 applications and inquiries, judicial review and statutory challenges. Craig is dual qualified and has represented clients in DCO and DNS hearings in England and Wales, as well as hearings and inquiries in Scotland.

Carolyn Wilson

Head of Onshore Consents & Environment, SSE Renewables

Carolyn is a chartered town planning professional with over 35 years’ experience in public and private sector, in both mixed development and infrastructure planning and consenting across the UK. Experienced in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and significant planning appeal experience including acting as expert planning witness at Inquiry and Hearings. Carolyn is a volunteer lead facilitator and trainer on community engagement for Planning Aid Scotland, with over 25 years’ experience in delivering community and stakeholder engagement. She currently leads the SSE Renewables Onshore Consents & Environment Team across the UK and Ireland and has been with SSE Renewables for over 5 years, with over 10 years' experience in renewables development.