Jean-Christophe Chaline

Jean-Christophe Chaline is Head of Division for the Public Sector and Utilities in the Department for Lending Operations - Western Europe at the EIB- European Investment Bank. He is responsible for EIB’s relationships with local authorities, regulatory utilities providers (water, energy, etc.) in UK, Ireland, France and Benelux. After a commercial banking experience with different banks in the City of London, Jean-Christophe joined the EIB in 1981.

Andrew Cooke

Andrew Cooke is EirGrid’s Director, Grid Development and Commercial and is responsible for the planning, development and maintenance of the transmission grid. He also has responsibility for the design and implementation of transmission access and tariff arrangements, and for EirGrid’s customer and regulatory relations. Andrew is an electrical engineer with over twenty-five years experience in the areas of transmission system operations and planning, and market design and regulation.

Martin Finucane

Martin Finucane is Principal Officer in charge of the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Division in the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. He is responsible for the development and promotion of renewable energy policy and energy efficiency policy in Ireland.

Ainsley Heffernan

Ainsley Heffernan is Partner and Head of the Renewable Energy Group at Beauchamps Solicitors. Over the past number of years he has built up a strong reputation advising on renewable energy projects and in particular on wind farm development. Ainsley and his team provide legal advice and assistance from the site acquisition stage right through to planning, financing and ultimate construction of the project. Ainsley hasbeen recommended by Chambers Europe as a notable practitioner in the wind energy sector.

Stefanie Huber

Stefanie Huber works for the Operating Agent of the IEA Task 28 on Social Acceptance of Wind Energy where she is managing amongst others the State-of-the-Art Report. She has worked on renewables, energy policy and electro mobility as consultant for an international industrial company, for the electricity market and administrative bodies. She is actively engaged in sustainable politics in Switzerland.

Neil Kermode

Neil Kermode was appointed in 2005 as Managing Director of the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney. He has overseen the contractual filling of the test berths and is now overseeing the physical installation of the third wave and third tidal devices at the site. Before EMEC Neil worked as a project developer of a tidal scheme in Orkney following 6 years at the Environment Agency dealing with regulation and development issues, particularly relating to public participation in decisions on flooding, waste and water resources.

Matthew Knight

Matthew Knight is Business Development Manager for Siemens Transmission and Distribution Ltd. Matthew led Siemens entry into the market for offshore grid connections, winning the first three UK Round 2 projects. Previously Matthew was Operations Manager and established a team to design and build onshore grid substations. Matthew is a member of the UK Government Renewables Advisory Board grid group and the BWEA's offshore grid and offshore strategy groups. He is also Chair of the IET’s Power Systems and Equipment Technical and Professional Network.

Owen Lewis

Owen Lewis is Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy Ireland. Professor Lewis is a long time proponent of sustainable energy practice in the built environment and was founder of the UCD Energy Research Group in 1975. Professor Lewis was elected Dean of Engineering and Architecture at UCD in 2001, a post he held for four years before becoming Principal of the UCD College of Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences. More recently, Professor Lewis has been Bórd na Móna's Director for Innovation and R&D.

Cathy Mannion

Cathy Mannion is Director of the Electricity Networks and Retail Division at the Commission for Energy Regulation . This division oversees the economic regulation and development of the electricity networks (transmission and distribution) in Ireland as well as approving charges for access to the networks and resolving disputes in the area of network connections. The division is also responsible for developing policy in relation to network connection, with increased emphasis on connection of renewable generators. She also has responsibility for licencing electricity suppliers and regulating the end user prices charged by the public electricity supplier to end customers.

Martin McAdam

Martin McAdam joined Aquamarine Power as its Chief Executive Officer in August 2008. Martin has spent over eight years in the renewable industry. Prior to joining Aquamarine Power, Martin was the founder and CEO of wind power developer and operator Airtricity’s North American operations, which were purchased in 2007 by Eon for £0.75 billion. Before joining Airtricity, Martin held a number of technical and management roles in the utility sector.

Séamus McCabe

Séamus McCabe is SSE Renewables Offshore Manager for Ireland with responsibility towards developing offshore wind projects throughout the island’s waters.  Prior to joining the renewable industry he spent six years in the UK and France delivering offshore installation solutions for the subsea construction sector of the petroleum industry. Séamus is a trained geologist and holds an MSc in Engineering Geology form Imperial College London and an MBA from Trinity College Dublin

Katrina Polaski

Katrina Polaski joined SEI in 2002, where she serves as Head of Low Carbon Technologies managing policy and technology research for renewable energy and other low carbon energy options. Previously Katrina was Head of Renewable Energy , Energy Economist and Senior Policy Analyst with SEI. Katrina serves as Ireland’s representative on the IEA Renewable Energy Working Party, and has represented SEI on a number of interdepartmental policy and advisory groups. Katrina holds an MBA from INSEAD, a BA in economics from Claremont McKenna College, and a CPA from her home state of California.

Larry Staudt

Larry Staudt has been involved with renewable energy since 1978, when he was engineer and then engineering manager of Enertech, a wind turbine company involved with the California windfarms. He had a renewable energy consulting partnership with Airtricity’s former chief scientist Brian Hurley in the 1980s. During the 1990s he worked with ESB doing power station engineering projects nationally and internationally, and as a shift engineer in the National Control Centre. He has been Chief Executive of the Irish Wind Energy Association, a vice president of the European Wind Energy Association, and chairman of the Irish Renewable Energy Council. He currently is director of the Centre for Renewable Energy at Dundalk IT and lectures in the MSc in Renewable Energy Systems.

Stephen Woodhouse

Stephen Woodhouse is a Director with Pöyry Energy Consulting. He is an expert on market reform, ranging from policy design to the implementation of systems and procedures for participants; the economics of transmission and interconnection and market regulatory policy; with a focus on the Irish electricity and gas markets. He led Pöyry's multiclient project for GB and Ireland investigating the market implications of intermittent generation, and is working on other aspects of renewable integration including smart grid initiatives.