6 October 2016, 5.15 PM - 6 October 2016, 7.15 PM
Elaine Greig, Peter Kydd, Colin Palmer and George Gibberd.
Chemistry Lecture Theatre 2
Renewable energy has seen huge technological advances over the last 20 years and with dwindling fossil fuel reserves and the threat of climate change, it now looks set to dominate our future energy supply. Achieving the rapid growth of renewable energy deployment needed will rely on engineers with the knowledge, skills and ambition to drive continued innovation and cost-reduction within the industry.
In this launch event for the 2016/17 Inside Track programme, leading figures from the UK's renewable energy sector will reflect on their own careers and provide a unique insight into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. This will include a panel debate on the future role of renewables within our energy mix and the best strategies for increasing their deployment with minimum cost and environmental impact.
Elaine Greig
A Project Director and Chartered Engineer, Elaine has spent 23 years in the Electrical Power Industry, the last 15 years in wind farm development through to operations. She is a Power Systems Engineer who moved on to Major Project Development. Elaine is currently a Director at the Renewables Consulting Group, and was previously Head of Offshore Renewables at DNV GL, Project Director for the development of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre in Aberdeen, and overall Project Manager for the Edinbane wind farm on the Isle of Skye, as well as Electrical and Grid Connections Manager for multiple projects.
Peter Kydd
Peter Kydd is a Fellow of the UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers with 38 years of professional experience in the UK and overseas. He has been Chair of the South West Marine Energy Park since 2012 and spent most of his professional life working for WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, holding a number of senior UK positions in the areas of environmental and strategic consulting. He has led numerous coastal engineering studies reviewing flood protection and electricity generation using tidal power. He is widely recognised as a leading authority on the development of tidal range power generation, having led the 2008-2010 tidal power studies on the Severn for DECC, undertaken a number of independent technical reviews and is currently providing technical consultancy services to DECC and The Crown Estate.
Colin Palmer
After working on wave energy development in the late 1970s, Colin established his own wind energy development company, Windcluster Ltd in 1988. Windcluster developed and built one of the first commercial wind energy projects in the UK and continues to own and operate a 3.4MW project. Subsequently, he co-founded Wind Prospect Group Ltd, another wind energy company that currently employs around 200 people and is active in markets around the globe. Wind Prospect has recently diversified into solar energy and undertakes every aspect of renewable energy generation, from project identification through to construction and operations management. Recently, Colin has reduced his day to day involvement in these companies in order to pursue other interests, in particular finding ways to invest in clean technology projects. His investment company, Ginko Investments has a small investment in a solar lighting company based in East Africa and he is also the current Chair of Wight Community Energy.
George Gibberd
George has 12 years’ experience in tidal stream, wave and offshore wind energy. He was Engineering Manager for Marine Current Turbines responsible for the concept design of their 1.2MW SeaGen tidal turbine, and subsequently, a founder and Technical Director for 5 years of Tidal Generation Limited (TGL). He subsequently joined DNV GL, providing expert advice on tidal turbine technology and marine installation services. This included managing a £20m programme of close-out works to resolve in-service failures and original construction defects on a 300MW offshore wind farm. In 2015, he joined Wavepower Ltd, a new wave power company in Somerset, and currently acts as a Director of Low Carbon Offshore Energy Ltd.
Refreshments will be available afterwards.
Everyone is welcome, tickets for this popular event are free of charge but need to be booked in advance through the Eventbrite website which will be launched soon.
The engineering industry lecture and seminar series is called 'The Inside Track.' The brief of the Inside Track lectures is for an engineer to give an insight (the 'inside track') on a particular industry or type of career. The seminars are focused on careers and employability issues and they are run jointly with the University's Careers Service.
