Squeaky, the UKs leading marketplace for 100% clean energy, has strengthened its senior team with the appointment of utility industry veteran, Richard Lewis.
Lewis has been appointed as an advisor to reinforce the firm’s expertise is risk management and provide a more rounded and robust offering to its corporate and generation clients.
The appointment of Lewis comes at a pivotal time in the UK’s green energy transition; the prime minister has said all of the UK’s electricity will come from clean energy sources by 2035; a commitment which has come ahead of the COP 26 conference. This shift towards renewable energy is part of government efforts to cut carbon emissions by 78% by 2035.
With 25 years’ experience, Lewis is a well-known figure in the environmental, utility and risk sector having worked as Chief Commercial Officer at RWE Supply & Trading and Managing Director of Commodities at Barclays Capital. He is also a director and advisor at Infinis Energy, the UK renewable generator, and a private investor in the energy transition.
Lewis joins Squeaky at a time of ambitious growth for the company and will be involved in the development and expansion of the business into other European power markets. Lewis will also be involved in developing services for generators that are navigating increasingly volatile and chaotic energy markets.
Commenting on the appointment, Chris Bowden, Managing Director at Squeaky, said: “We are excited to have Richard join Squeaky in an advisory capacity. Richard brings deep sector knowledge and extensive contacts in the European power sector which will be fundamental as I&C firms navigate through the current energy crisis. Certainly, the world has faced volatile energy markets and supply squeezes for decades, but this is the first major energy crisis of the clean-power transition and will be the tipping point for the UK’s transition to green energy. It is our role to help protect our current clients and other corporations from the very volatile power prices and this chaotic energy bull market. Richard has a wealth of experience that will be instrumental in doing this.”
Richard Lewis, advisor at Squeaky, said: “I am looking forward to this new role and what we can achieve for our clients. Renewable generators across Europe have increasing exposure to power prices, both on older, out-of-contract assets, and on new projects they intend to build. As a result, finance will be less available for assets that have significant merchant electricity price exposures. It’s increasingly clear to me that corporate buyers can provide a solution to this financing problem, by buying long term fixed price power under a corporate PPA from these assets. However, to dramatically grow the market for corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) we will need to see the integration of many more market participants and increasing standardisation to really drive the adoption of the product and that’s where Squeaky comes in.”