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This month we welcome two women working in different areas of renewable energy. Sarah Merrick, the founder and CEO of Ripple, a co-op wind farm and Caroline Donnelly, a consent manager for SSE Renewable and the first female IEMA Fellow in Ireland. We hear about the fantastic work they are doing in the renewable energy sector as well as how the renewable energy sector can help reduce energy costs. We discuss the roadblocks that are slowing down the uptake of renewable energy in the UK and Ireland. We also touch on some of the myths regarding new technologies like the heat pumps for heating our homes and the use of hydrogen to power vehicles. We want to know about how our IEMA members are dealing with rising energy cost, so please do write to us: [email protected]
Bio Speaker 1: In July 2021 I joined the SSE Renewables team in Ireland having spent the previous 21 years working in environmental consultancy in Ireland, Australia and Kenya. My role in SSE is that of a Consent Manager. I am responsible for consenting new onshore projects including Wind and Hydrogen and also consenting the repowering of existing Wind Farms with the aim of increasing and improving SSE’s renewable infrastructure in Ireland. These projects will assist Ireland in meeting the National plan to increase the proportion of renewable electricity to 80% by 2030. Since starting my professional career I have been a member of the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA). In 2019 after returning from Nairobi I was asked to consider becoming the chair of the Republic of Ireland (ROI) Regional Committee which without hesitation I agreed to. In 2017 I gained Full Membership of IEMA and became a chartered environmentalist. In 2021 I became an IEMA Fellow – the first female IEMA Fellow in Ireland.
Sarah Merrick, Founder and CEO of Ripple, set up the company in 2017 to bring clean energy ownership into the mainstream. She was frustrated that big companies could access low-cost clean energy direct, but people couldn’t. And so, Ripple was created to put the power into people’s hands when it comes to reducing their bills and owning their own source of renewable power. Prior to establishing Ripple Energy, Sarah had worked in the wind industry for 20 years mostly on strategy, energy policy and communications. Her roles included Head of Public Affairs at Vestas and vice-chair of RenewableUK, the UK’s trade body for wind and marine energy. Thanks to her work setting up Ripple, she was named as the BusinessGreen entrepreneur of the year 2021.
