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Onsite renewables - Biographies
Simon Bonsall – Senior Planner, Scottish Government Directorate for the Built Environment
Simon is a Senior Planner in the Scottish Government’s Directorate for the Built Environment. Bringing with him experience in development management from a local planning authority perspective, Simon joined the Directorate in 2005. Since that time Simon has become a Chartered Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and has worked on policy areas and publications including the West Edinburgh Planning Framework, the first National Planning Framework Monitoring Report and the second National Planning Framework.
Currently Simon is working towards delivery of the actions for the planning system arising from the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. Simon is also the Scottish Government’s representative on the Royal Town Planning Institute’s Scottish Young Planners Network Steering Group.
Gordon Buchan leads Halcrow’s private sector transport planning team in Scotland and has an excellent track record for delivering a wide range of projects across the length and breadth of Scotland.
Gordon has developed a particular specialism in the transport issues associated with the renewables and power sectors, having worked on over 50 wind farm sites in the UK and Ireland, including Griffin, Arecleoch, Glenkerrie, Kelburn, Waterhead Moor, Harrows Law, Fullabrook, Goonhilly, Grouse Lodge, Knockacummer (A&B), Dunneil, Neilston, Crockagarran, Esk, Keelderry, Pentre Tump, Lindhurst, Tullo, Long Mountain, Beechtree, Earlshaugh and Newfield wind farms. He has also experience of working on the Blackhillock – Shateland HVDC link.
He has worked extensively with Vestas, the leading wind turbine manufacturing firm, as well as working beside some of the specialist firms involved with transporting turbine components such as Give Svaergods. He is currently commissioned to examine the transport infrastructure requirements for transporting new 45m long x 6.5m wide turbine tower sections from Welcon’s plant at Machrihanish to the quayside at Campbeltown.
Since joining Halcrow, Gordon has established the company as a leader in the field, having won commissions for abnormal load assessments and transport assessments for a variety of clients including developers and utility providers.
Gaynor Hartnell - Chief Executive Officer, Renewable Energy Association
Nick Jones - Partner, Real Estate Group & Head of MacRoberts Energy Group
Nick Jones is the Head of the MacRoberts Energy Group and a partner in the Real Estate Group, based in Edinburgh. He has particular experience and expertise in wind farm development.
He has over 20 years experience in all aspects of commercial property work including property development, acquisitions, disposals, commercial leasing (for both landlord and tenant), security work and investment work. For the last 12 years his practice has increasingly focussed on the renewables sector.
Nick acts for a wide range of commercial clients including wind farm developers and residential developers. He has written and spoken extensively on commercial property law.
He is a member of the Scottish Renewables Onshore Wind Group and the Scottish Property Federation Building Standards and Sustainability Working Group.
In addition, he is a director of Energy Prospects Co-operative Limited, which is aimed at developing new community-owned renewable energy co-ops by assisting them to secure planning.
Alastair Macfarlane - Director, Project Management, Miller Developments
Alastair has been at Miller Developments since 1997 and as Director of Project Management has managed developments in all sectors in the UK and retail developments across Europe.
He has developed more than 500,000sqft of offices at Edinburgh Park and is involved with all Miller Developments major projects such as Omega Business Park in Warrington, which has 550 acres of development land and Arena Central in Birmingham which has a planning consent for 1.6m sqft of mixed use space.
One of his current focusses is on ensuring current developments are efficient in their energy usage as possible. Going forward the integration of renewable energy into developments is key to future proofing these developments and the improving industry standards.
Grant Nairn - Director of Technology & Innovation, Scottish Water
Grant Nairn is Director of Technology & Innovation at Scottish Water where his responsibilities include IT, business change, and innovation. His role is to drive innovation and the effective use of technology to deliver the best possible outcomes for Scottish Water customers.
Prior to this Grant was at HBOS where he was Head of IT Strategy and more recently Head of Enterprise Platforms.
Before joining HBOS Grant's career was in consulting at Accenture, working on large scale systems integration projects, and McKinsey & Co where he advised clients on IT strategy and operations. Grant has a 1st class BSc in Physics from Edinburgh University.
Per Reidar Ørke - Head of Business Development - Water, Zeropex AS
Per Reidar Ørke has a background from the oil and gas industry. He holds a master degree in robotics and control, and for 15 years he took part in the adventurous growth of the control system company Hitec AS (now a part of National Oilwell). This company is well known as a trend setter in drilling control applications, and when it introduced the Cyberbase drilling control chair in 1996, it made a paradigm shift for the working environment for drillers and drill floor crew. Per Reidar had a central role in product management and product development in Hitec, and later in the global R&D group in National Oilwell.
Per Reidar’s last assignment before Energreen was as group manager for the R&D department at Laerdal Medical. Laerdal develop and produce first aid equipment and associated training kits. The Resusci Anne should be well known from from HLR-training at school for most of us, as is the HeartStart defibrilators.
His interest for idea management and early phase development was important factors when he decided to found Energreen three years ago.
Dan Polito - Chief Marketing Officer, The Dialight Corporation
Dan Polito brings over 25 years of marketing, sales, business development and operational experience to Dialight, with a proven track record in creating new markets, commercializing innovative products and building and guiding top performing sales and marketing teams. As Chief Marketing Officer, he leads all of Dialight’s strategic and tactical marketing efforts and works with the executive team to architect the company’s future as the leader in the LED and energy efficient lighting technology marketplace.
Before joining Dialight, Dan was President of Enfis Lighting of North America, a manufacturer of ‘SMART’ LED technology based in Swansea. As president he was responsible for managing all areas of Enfis Lighting’s North American operations and driving significant increases in shareholder value.
Prior to Enfis, Dan served as Chief Marketing Officer of Lamina Lighting Incorporated (Lamina), where he oversaw Marketing, Global Business Development, Product Development, Operations and Sales. During his tenure, Dan led the successful re-launch of the Lamina brand, tripled annual sales, increased market share and developed a CO2 Offset Certification program whose metrics have since been adopted by the EPA / DOA.
Before Lamina, Dan was VP of Marketing for ELC, a manufacturer of natural lighting products, where he grew sales revenue by over 32%. Earlier in his career, Dan held the position of Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Reuters America, a leading provider of information technology services and solutions for the financial market, and senior executive positions at Dun & Bradstreet, Foote, Cone & Belding and Ogilvy & Mather.
Dan is a highly-accomplished marketing thought-leader, strategic planner and business development professional. The author of numerous articles on corporate and product branding, he most recently published the acclaimed book “The Direct Marketing Cookbook: A Recipe for Getting and Keeping Customers”.
Jan Ponsford - Development Director, RD Energy Solutions
Jan is the Development Director for RD Energy Solutions a Leading Renewable Energy and energy efficiency consultancy and installer helping clients to save energy costs, reduce carbon emissions and generate income through maximising natural resources whilst being sympathetic to aesthetic and economic constraints.
Jan has worked in the construction industry for 15 years delivering many major construction projects across the UK including RBS Gogarburn, Omni Centre, and many more. Jan has always had a passion for sustainable development and within RDES is responsible for project management, business development, financial management, and managing a team of 8 renewable energy engineers. Jan is also in the process of establishing an office in Stratford-Upon Avon to service existing and new clients in the south.
Since Joining RDES Jan developed accounts including Dobbies, Scottish Natural Heritage, SEPA, Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Robertson Construction, Chesterfield HNS and East Ayrshire Council. recent projects include – 100kW turbine for NHS Girvan, Renewables for the SEPA HQ in Aberdeen, Biomass SNH Battleby and Market and product research for Anglian Group PLC and Energy Management training for East Ayrshire Council.
Chris Rodgers - Senior Manager renewables energy and asset finance, Co-operative Bank
Chris Rodgers is a Senior Manager in the Co-operative Bank Renewable Energy Team. Chris is primarily involved in the financing of wind, hydro, anaerobic digestion and biomass projects. Previously he developed the Renewables Advisory practice at Grant Thornton Chartered Accountants. Chris is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Gaynor Hartnell is Chief Executive at the Renewable Energy Association. She has been with the REA since its formation in 2001. Gaynor has worked in the field of renewable energy since 1995, when she joined the British Wind Energy Association as Technical and Policy Analyst and later running the Biogas Association. Prior to this she was a Research Fellow in the Environment Group at the Science Policy Research Unit, Sussex University. She has a degree in Environmental Science and a Masters in Science and Technology Policy
