Industry News: Great British Energy interim CEO appointed

February 21, 2025
  • Dan Mcgrail was appointed as interim CEO of Great British Energy, working from the Aberdeen HQ
  • Follows the recent appointment of five non-executive directors to the start-up board
  • New leadership will help the company drive forward the government’s Plan for Change and Clean Energy Superpower mission

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 Ed Miliband 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 Renewable UK’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.

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AREG has played an important role in the growth of Scotland’s renewable energy sector, engaging the supply chain and developing the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. However, we are only at the very beginning of the transition that AREG was established to both lead and support so there are still opportunities for companies to get into the constantly evolving renewables supply chain. We look forward to continuing our work together as renewables builds on its place as Scotland’s main source of power, and as we seek to deliver real change in the crucial areas of heat and transport.

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Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce has worked closely with AREG since its formation. The recent progress in the developments of offshore wind projects by Equinor and Vattenfall are as a result of the work of the group over many years. The north-east is known as the oil and gas capital of Europe. At the Chamber, we believe the region must evolve its position to being recognised as the energy capital. Whilst hydrocarbons will continue to be essential in driving our economy for years to come, the generation of renewable resources will play an increasingly important role in providing cost-effective power, innovative development and economic growth.

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The enthusiasm and dedication of the early group that would become AREG was fundamental in us choosing to launch All-Energy in Aberdeen. The first tiny show was held in 2001, and AREG’s Chairman at the time, Jeremy Cresswell, played such an active role that I often describe him in terms such as All-Energy’s ‘midwife’. All-Energy is now the UK’s largest renewable and low carbon energy exhibition and conference in terms of number of attendees, space booked, and number of exhibiting companies. As AREG became firmly established, their presence and support for the event grew spectacularly over the years. We thank them most sincerely for their invaluable input.

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Aberdeen City and Shire is emerging as a key location for renewables by successfully transferring its world-class oil and gas expertise into the sector and AREG has done much to advance this through a broad range of initiatives. It has acted as a catalyst in driving further investment in the local economy by engaging with companies, Government, public bodies and existing projects and we have been pleased to support their efforts. Scottish Enterprise will continue to engage with AREG as we increase Scotland’s use of renewable energy.

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