Specially for the farming community - Biographies

Julian Bell - Senior Rural Business Consultant, SAC

Julian is Team Leader of the Rural Business Unit at SAC which delivers business consultancy services to farmers, rural businesses, banks and government agencies. Current projects include analysis of grain and biofuel markets, renewable energy feasibility studies, agricultural investment appraisal and agricultural enterprise benchmarking. Previously, Julian was Senior Economist, Crop Marketing, HGCA where he oversaw analysis of global cereal markets.

Dr Elaine Booth - Bioenergy and Renewables Specialist, SAC

Elaine is a Bioenergy and Renewables Specialist at the Scottish Agricultural College, where she is involved with consultancy for farmers, industry and government, and also applied research and development for a wide range of funders.

Her work with SAC began in 1988 with agronomic and quality aspects of oilseed rape and developed to consider bioenergy and renewable opportunities with many non-food crops in the early 1990s. Subsequent work has considered agronomic, technical and economic feasibility of a range of projects with biodiesel, bioethanol, biogas and biomass in the UK and elsewhere. The environmental implications of utilising bioenergy is a further area of activity.

Outwith SAC, Elaine is an active partner in Ednie Farms, a family farming business farm near Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. She has direct experience as a renewable project developer with Bruxiehill Wind Energy Ltd, and has one wind turbine on the farm supplying electricity to the national grid with another two turbines planned to be on-stream next year. Development of biomass energy opportunities offered by forestry on the farm is also being actively considered.

Neil Harrison - Project Director, SAC

Neil has worked in the wood energy sector since 2003, when he took up the position of Project Director with the Forestry Commission supported Northwoods initiative in North East England. Since then, he has contributed to the practical development of the sector at both ends of the supply chain, providing support to forestry contractors, farmers and estates, and system advice to private, public and third sector clients. Neil was invited to brief the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Energy Inquiry for Scotland on woodfuel in 2005, and was a member of the Forestry Commission RAC for North East England from 2003 to 2007.

A sucker for punishment, Neil left the UK to work in the nascent New Zealand wood energy sector in 2007, where he sold, specified and installed the first 6 European wood chip boiler systems in the country. Working as a consultant to the NZ government’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, Neil also completed feasibility studies for major industrial sites, schools, universities, food processors, hospitals and the US Antarctic Survey’s McMurdo and South Pole Bases. Neil has spoken on a range of wood energy topics at industry conferences in the UK, Finland, Australia, New Zealand and the US, and has been factory-trained on wood-fired boiler systems with a major manufacturer in Austria.

Hugo House - Head of Generation Marketing, Good Energy

Hugo House is the head of generation marketing at Good Energy. Hugo’s career began in broadcast media, producing factual entertainment programmes for terrestrial broadcast channels. Hugo moved into renewables industry in 2005 and works for Good Energy managing and developing the company’s propositions, for both generators and consumers. Ranging from microgeneration to small scale independent renewables, Good Energy provides services enabling individuals to get involved with generating energy and to get paid for the energy they produce.

Keith Patterson - Head of Projects, Brodies LLP

Keith Patterson is Head of Projects at Brodies LLP. He has more than 15 years' experience in project finance and infrastructure procurement, procuring and financing both social and environmental infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals and water infrastructure. In the last 5 years, Keith has developed the energy infrastructure side of the business, an area that is now growing significantly. In particular, Keith advises The Co-operative Bank on a wide range of renewable financings, including many windfarms and hydro schemes. Keith now heads a 13 strong team, across our projects, land and financing teams, who know what it takes to deliver a renewables project.