Alastair Campbell (pictured), arguably one of the most influential Brirtish Government advisers in recent memory will lead the line up of A-listers at this year’s Energy Event on 11-12 September at the NEC, Birmingham. Against a backdrop of the Electricity Market Reform, the Blair government’s former director of communications and strategy will take a look at the issues around taking and communicating difficult but necessary policy change in a time when tough decisions need to be made.
Addressing some of the underlying problems legislators face in the UK – investing in and developing energy generation infrastructure in the face of NIMBYism and a reluctance to change or accept increased costs necessary to fund greener energy, Mr Campbell will also look at the role the media plays in influencing how people perceive such issues and how utilities, developers, and government can better communicate with, and achieve buy-in from the public through this and other channels.
Other high profile speakers at The Energy Event include: Professor Brian Cox, acclaimed particle physicist, television presenter and part of the team that works at CERN, Geneva on The ATLAS Experiment; Philip Lowe, director general – Energy, European Commission, and James Woudhuysen, professor of forecasting and innovation at De Montfort University. ITV News special correspondent, Daisy McAndrew will chair one of the four theatres that form the ‘knowledge’ core of the show.
Other high profile speakers include: Robert Sorrell, vice president of public partnerships, BP; Chris Train, network operations director, National Grid; Mike Hogg, managing director, DONG Energy Sales; Linda Burgess, UK energy purchasing manager, St Gobain; and Volker Beckers, chief executive officer,RWE npower.
The Energy Event will sit alongside two more environment events: The Renewables Event – a unique event showcasing renewable energy technologies for onsite energy generation – and RWM in partnership with CIWM. Between them, they will cater to the needs of 20,000 professionals from across the public, industrial and commercial sectors.