RenewableUK has today announced Hugh McNeal, a top civil servant at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), is to take up the post of chief executive at the influential trade body.
McNeal, who is currently Director of Change at DECC and who has previously held senior posts at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), is to join RenewableUK in April.
He will take over from out-going chief executive Maria McCaffery MBE, who has led the organisation since June 2006.
RenewableUK represents the UK's onshore and offshore wind energy industries and the wave and tidal energy sectors and boasts over 500 corporate members. Formerly known as the British Wind Energy Association, the group has been in existence since 1978 and claims to be the UK's "leading renewable energy trade association".
McNeal said it would "be a privilege to represent an industry which is playing such a vital role in providing safe, secure power for our country's homes and businesses, as well as tens of thousands of high quality jobs across the UK".
He is expected to bring considerable experience of both Whitehall and the renewable energy sector to his new role.
Prior to serving as Director of Change at DECC at a time when the department was undergoing significant reforms, McNeal worked as chief executive of the Office for Renewable Energy Deployment at DECC and Deputy Director of Low Carbon Business at BIS.
McCaffery, who announced her departure from RenewableUK last year, said she was "delighted to be handing over the reins of Chief Executive to such a capable pair of hands".
"I wish Hugh every success in his new role," she added. "He has a wealth of experience on energy policy and I have no doubt that he will be a highly effective champion of wind, wave and tidal energy."
Writing on BusinessGreen last year, McCaffery said she was looking forward to a new challenge following a decade at RenewableUK that coincided with remarkable expansion for the clean energy sector. "At the start of 2006, the UK had installed 1,140MW of commercial-scale onshore wind (122 projects), and just four offshore wind projects with a total capacity of 214MW," she wrote. "Today we have grown to 8,258MW onshore (896 projects) and 5,054MW offshore (27 projects). This represents significant progress by anyone's standards. It is a British success story which all those within the sector should be proud to celebrate."
RenewableUK's Chairman Julian Brown said McNeal was joining at a "crucial moment" in the development of the wind and marine power industries. "I have no doubt that he will use his exceptional skills to represent the sector successfully, so that we can continue to increase the proportion of cost-effective electricity that we generate from home-grown sources, as well as creating jobs," he said.
RenewableUK's members face a series of challenges in the coming months, as the onshore wind industry responds to the government's attempts to 'halt' new projects, the offshore wind sector seeks to make good on pledges to slash costs, and the marine energy sector looks to demonstrate commercial scale developments.
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