National Renewable Energy Co-operatives Conference 2018

Eamonn Confrey, Principal Officer Electricity Policy, DCCAE.

Eamonn’s role at the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, to ensure progressive delivery on renewable electricity targets and facilitate the growth of renewable electricity technologies to 2020, in line with the National Renewable Energy Action Plan. Secondly, to oversee electricity infrastructure policy including grid development and future interconnection policy. Contribute to the overall formulation of electricity policy for the period to 2030 and beyond in line with the 2015 Energy White Paper.

Mr Declan Meally, Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland

Declan is Head of Department with responsibility for the Emerging Sectors in the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Ireland’s national body for sustainable energy policy and programmes. SEAI’s mission is to play a leading role in transforming Ireland into a society based on a decarbonised energy system. SEAI advises Government on sustainable energy policy, trends and impacts, and delivers a range of programmes to promote the adoption of “use less and use clean” behaviours. Declan has worked in SEAI since 2004 and previously worked in Management in Xerox (Europe) Ltd, Aer Rianta and the Irish Defence Forces. He holds Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Lúgh ó Braonáin Business Manager Energy Co-ops Ireland

Lúgh, M.A., Dublin City University, is also the community corporate development officer for ECI in its role as mentors for the SEAI’s SEC programme, supervising the administration and management of the participating communities. He has worked in multiple communities throughout Ireland in community and domestic building energy conservation projects. He is also currently engaged by Comharchumann Fuinneamh Oileáin Árann as research co-ordinator for its role as partner in SEAFUEL, an INTERREG research program into the feasibility of Hydrogen as a renewable energy generated transport fuel in island communities in the coastal region of Europe.

Barry Clarke, Kerry Sustainable Energy Co-op

Eamon ó Conceannan, Fuinneamh Oiléain Árainn,

JP Prendergast, Claremorris & Western District Energy Co-op

Vincent Carragher, Trinity College Dublin

Behaviour change specialist, community facilitator, education practitioner, applied researcher and lecturer fostering sustainability, resilience and behaviour change with and for communities. Significant training and experience in Resource Management, Energy Management and Carbon Management for and with communities, schools and SMEs. A specialist in facilitating relevant actors to measure their resource consumption and then to reinterpret it and develop solutions to lower it.

Darragh Walshe – ICOS Legal and Development

Through his role with ICOS, Darragh is in charge of the promotion and assistance of new co-operatives. ICOS has identified community-led renewable energy generation co-operative development as a key area to focus on in the coming months. Due to Darragh and his colleagues’ backgrounds in legal services and corporate governance, ICOS is also well equipped to provide advice to newly established co-operatives in these areas and ensure they have a robust, coherent, democratic and transparent ownership structure to facilitate and sustain their development and continued growth once established.

Dr Jeanne Moore, Policy Analyst, NESC

Dr. Jeanne Moore is a policy analyst at the National Economic and Social Council and focuses on climate, energy and environmental issues. Her recent projects include climate governance, the social and behavioural aspects of climate change and community engagement and renewable energy, notably the report, Wind Energy in Ireland: Building Community Engagement and Social Support (NESC, 2014). Her most recent report for the Council was Moving Towards the Circular Economy in Ireland.  Prior to working at NESC, she was a policy analyst at the National Economic and Social Forum. Jeanne has a doctorate in Environmental Psychology and has previously lectured in social and environmental psychology at the University of Teesside in the UK and research the meaning of home, homeworking and homelessness.

Dr Orla Nic Suibhne

Orla works for the Western Development Commission on the Local Energy Communities (LECo) EU funded project. In 2016, Orla was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Irish Research Council with UCD and SEAI as the partners. The focus was the Sustainable Energy Community Programme that SEAI are currently championing. Orla completed her PhD at NUI Galway, also funded by the Irish Research Council and studied Energy Management Information Systems.  She coordinated a €3m smart grid project for Údarás na Gaeltachta entitled GREAT (Growing Renewable Energy Applications and Technologies). She is a Horizon 2020 expert evaluator for the European Commission in the areas of smart grids and smart communities.

Seamus Boland, CEO Irish Rural Link.

In 2001 Seamus Boland was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Irish Rural Link.  In 2011 he was appointed the Chairperson of Pobal and is a member of the European Economic Social Council. In 2012 Seamus was appointed Chair of the Peatlands Council. He is also chair of Eirgrid Advisory Committee and Bord Na Mona/Cloncreen Community Engagement Meetings. Irish Rural Link also provides administrative/secretariat support for both the Eirgrid Committee and BNM/Cloncreen Community Engagement meetings. He is also Chair of the Community Wetlands Forum, which was set up under the umbrella of Irish Rural Link in 2013. Seamus serves on National Development Plan and Rural Development Programme monitoring committees.  As a member of the Community and Voluntary Pillar of National Social Partnership, he was involved in the negotiation of two National agreements, Sustaining Progress and Towards 2016.

Enda Gallagher, Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Enda holds a degree in business from the University of Limerick. He has held a variety of positions in both the public and private sectors, including sales and marketing positions with Coca Cola Ireland and Masterfoods, Marketing Officer for the Geological Survey of Ireland and Press Officer for the Department of Climate Action. He has also worked across various energy policy roles within that department including Energy Efficiency, Strategic Energy Policy and he now works in the Electricity Policy Division of the department where he has responsibility for electricity infrastructure. He currently has responsibility for the development of community energy policy within the context of the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme due to launch in 2019.