Dan McGrail has been appointed as the interim Chief Executive
Officer of Great British Energy, to help drive forward the
government's Plan for Change and clean energy superpower
mission.
Great British Energy is owned by the British people, for the
British people, and will own and invest in clean energy projects
across the UK to create good, skilled jobs and growth.
Dan McGrail is currently the Chief Executive of RenewableUK, the
trade association for businesses developing wind, wave, tidal,
storage and green hydrogen projects in the UK, and their supply
chain companies. He currently sits on the board for WindEurope
and was also previously CEO of Siemens Engines and Managing
Director of Siemens Power Generation.
He will draw on his wealth of experience in clean energy
including wind and thermal power to provide strong leadership and
help rapidly scale up the new company so it can start delivering
as quickly as possible.
This follows the appointment in January of five new non-executive
directors to join Chair Juergen Maier on the company's start-up
board, bringing a wide range of experience across different
sectors, with knowledge on workplace rights, building UK supply
chains and driving investment in clean energy.
Energy Secretary said:
With the appointment of Dan McGrail as interim CEO we now have a
fantastic team in place to lead Great British Energy and start
delivering on our Plan for Change.
Great British Energy is at the heart of our clean power mission,
and will support thousands of well-paid jobs, drive growth and
investment into our communities and deliver energy security for
the British people.
I look forward to working with Dan as we unlock the benefits of a
new era of clean electricity for the British people.
RenewableUK's Chief Executive Dan McGrail said:
Homegrown, affordable clean power has never been more important
and it's a privilege to take up the role of interim CEO of Great
British Energy at such a pivotal moment.
Together with the talented leadership team, I'm excited to hit
the ground running to scale up the company and work with industry
to unleash billions of investment in clean energy, helping to
grow new industries at scale with job opportunities for hundreds
of thousands of people, as well as helping the government achieve
its clean power targets.
Start-up Great British Energy Chair Juergen Maier said:
Dan brings invaluable experience from a long career in clean
energy and joins Great British Energy at a critical time to help
spearhead our work to help make Britain energy
independent.
I look forward to working with him to back innovation, create
sustainable jobs, and grow our supply chains.
The Chair of RenewableUK's Board of Directors Paul Cooley,
Director of Offshore Wind at SSE Renewables, said:
I am delighted to support Dan in taking on the role of Interim
CEO. He has the right combination of leadership skills and energy
industry experience to take Great British Energy to its next
stage of maturity and he has been an important driving force
throughout his career in the sector. He has transformed
RenewableUK into a leading voice in the industry and his
appointment is a great vote of confidence in the work of the
organisation. I am sure that he will establish a strategy at
Great British Energy which enables our country to deliver on the
amazing opportunities for economic growth and job creation which
the clean power transition offers.
Dan will be based in Scotland, working from the Aberdeen
headquarters, and will take up his post in March, on an initial
6-month contract, on secondment from RenewableUK. Recruitment for
the permanent CEO will also begin shortly.
The government has already announced an unprecedented partnership
between Great British Energy and The Crown Estate to unlock
investment in clean energy, confirmed Aberdeen will host Great
British Energy's headquarters, and struck a deal with the
Scottish Government for the company to work with Scottish public
bodies to support clean energy supply chains. The government is
also legislating through the Great British Energy Bill to give
the company the powers it needs to rapidly deliver.
Great British Energy will support the government's mission for
clean power by 2030, with an action plan published in December to
get more homegrown clean power to people and provide the
foundation for the UK to build an energy system that can bring
down bills for households and businesses for good.
Background
- Dan McGrail took up his post as Chief Executive at
RenewableUK in May 2021, and was previously CEO of Siemens
Engines. He joined Siemens UK in 2004 and worked in a variety of
roles across the energy industry, becoming CEO in
2017.
- More information on the non-executive
directors: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/great-british-energys-start-up-board-appointed
- The Great British Energy Bill is currently going through the
House of Lords and is at the Committee Stage.
