Q&A with Senior Consultant's David Bailey and Tharina Conradie!
New to the Ener-Vate team, Tharina and David share more about their roles and priorities, what they got up to before joining Ener-Vate as well as their favourite brew and biscuit combination.
Hi Tharina, please tell us more about your role...
I joined as a Senior Consultant at Ener-Vate, a trusted commercial consultant in the low carbon energy sector. As part of my role, I will focus on working with heat network projects to help them achieve a commercially and technically attractive product that can consistently provide high-quality heating service to customers. Heat networks offer a great solution to decarbonising heat and innovative ways of providing such heat, like utilising waste heat from datacentres…want to know more? Pop me a message and we can discuss all things heat networks over a brew.
What are your top 3 priorities going to be in the coming months?
- Building a promising pipeline of projects that Ener-Vate can provide their innovative service to.
- Networking with key connections to promote Ener-Vate and the services they offer.
- Converting proposals to prospective clients into realised business and expanding Ener-Vate’s client base.
What was your experience before you joined Ener-Vate?
I have a long-standing relationship with Ener-Vate and while working for one of the largest housing associations in England, I was a client of Ener-Vate, and it was them who introduced me to the wonders of heat networks (can you tell I'm passionate about my job).
Initially, it wasn't the right time to leave the housing association and join Ener-Vate, I waited another 18 months to build my knowledge and experience of heat networks at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). During my time at BEIS, I worked closely with Project Sponsors to explore the feasibility and realise the benefits of a heat network in their area. This technology helps the area decarbonise and offers the lowest cost, low carbon solution to decarbonising heat.
What is your favourite brew and biscuit combination?
I have a Nespresso at home, and I suspect this may have created a coffee snob (sorry Costa and Starbucks!). I love the flavoured coffees they offer and enjoy them black; I want to taste the coffee and the caffeine…if you could taste the caffeine. My favourite biscuit is an authentic all butter Scottish shortbread and dunking that into a vanilla flavoured coffee is heavenly. I'm off to have my shortbread and coffee...
David, tell us more about your role...
As a Consultant in the Ener-Vate team, I will be looking at supporting clients to develop and implement heat network solutions on their developments.
What are your top 3 priorities going to be in the coming months?
- Meeting People/establishing strong relationships not only within Ener-Vate but also with the client and supplier organisations I work with. This should not only help with getting things done but also make the job even more enjoyable.
- Delivering the most efficient, lowest cost and best low-carbon heat network solutions whenever and wherever possible. The main purpose of which is to raise the profile and desirability of heat networks amongst both developers and heat customers and enhance the potential of the Ener-Vate business.
- Further develop my understanding of new heat network technologies, the imminent regulation of the heat network sector by Ofgem (2024) and the new heat zoning regulations that are on the horizon, as these will have a significant impact on the requirements for heat supply in new developments.
What was your experience before you joined Ener-Vate?
My first proper job was as a graduate engineer in the nuclear power sector which led to me spending six years with the company, most of which were spent at Dungeness B power station helping to replace plant and keep it operational.
After my time at Dungeness, I did a Masters followed by a couple of analyst roles. The first included producing research for the fertiliser market and the second was for an online real estate start-up, developing their business model and reporting performance data and benchmarking against competitors.
After this, I reverted to the nuclear industry and worked at EDF in their Investors and Investments team, helping to update the main financial model for the Hinkley Point C project with inflation, and FX impacts and finding reasons why the construction costs had escalated from £18bn to £21bn.
Following this, I joined the heat networks sector where I spent three and a half years as a heat network analyst/consultant focusing primarily on new-build residential projects in the London area.
Finally, what is your favourite brew and biscuit combination?
Dark Chocolate Digestive (McVities) + tea with milk and sugar.
Thanks to David and Tharina for taking the time to chat and welcome to the team!
