UK Development & Finance Forum 2026
About the Event
The UK Development & Finance Forum 2026 takes place on November 4, 2026, at Gowling WLG in London. Organized by New Project Media (NPM), the senior-level executive gathering convenes developers, independent power producers (IPPs), investors, lenders, advisors, and corporate infrastructure leads across the UK renewable energy and data center industries. Roughly half of the registered audience represents developers and IPPs active in the UK and broader European power markets.
Discussions centre on the convergence of grid reform, power purchase agreements (PPAs), battery energy storage systems (BESS), and accelerated data center demand driven by the rollout of artificial intelligence infrastructure across the UK.
Programming Focus
- Development Landscape: Planning environment shifts, grid queue reform progress, and remaining barriers to utility-scale infrastructure deployment
- Power Purchase Agreements and Offtake: Corporate PPAs, Contracts for Difference (CfDs), buyer requirements, and long-term project bankability
- UK Data Center Development Landscape: Developer, utility, and policy alignment to unlock grid capacity, regional competitiveness for European AI infrastructure, and data center procurement driving renewable generation
- UK Battery Energy Storage Market: Contracting structures, tolling agreements, floor-price mechanisms, revenue sharing, and debt lender appetite for merchant risk
- Capital Markets: Mergers and acquisitions trends, bridging buyer-seller valuation gaps, and evolving debt and equity structures across the UK clean power sector
Featured Speakers
Keynote Speaker:
- Tim Cullen OBE, Director of Business Development and Partnerships, Great British Energy
Data Center, Energy, and Corporate Leadership:
- David Ring, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Greenfield
- Adrien Pinsard, Founder & CEO, Telis Energy
- Gary Watson, Managing Director, Stellanor
- Dr. Deborah Allen, Group Director Climate, Environment & Infrastructure, BAE Systems Plc
- Trevor Wills, Chief Executive Officer, Pulse Clean Energy
- Tony Julius, Chief Financial Officer, Fidra Energy
- Mark Van Rij, Country Manager, Chint Solar Europe
- Philip Silk, Development Director, Conrad Energy
- Keila Abreu, Development Director, Electric Land
- Ben Finnerty, Sales Director, ENGIE
- Alex Underwood, General Counsel & Corporate Development Director, Eclipse Power
- Tom Palmer, Director of Business Development, Zenobe
- James Zhou, Energy Markets and PPAs Specialist, Octopus Energy Generation
Finance, Advisory, and Legal:
- Gauri Kasbekar-Shah, Head of Project Finance UK, Middle East and Africa, Siemens Bank
- Dmitry Golubikhin, Managing Director, Nomura Greentech
- Julia Gubar, Investment Director, Octopus
- Guy Lavarack, Chief Investment Officer, Luminous Energy
- Liv Miller, Director, Quinbrook
- Silvia Calvo Alcala, Director of Corporate Finance, Econergy
- Ingrid Edmund, Managing Director, Private Sector Finance, National Wealth Fund
- Gareth Baker, Partner, Gowling WLG
- Jocelyn Paulley, Partner, Gowling WLG
- Ben Morris, Partner, Forvis Mazars LLP
- Gareth Miller, Chair, Energy Market Risk Committee, Downing
Moderators and Analysts:
- Christine McGregor, Portfolio Director, Octopus Energy Generation (incoming CEO, Exagen Group)
- Peter Kneller, Editor, New Project Media
- Ulan Harrison-Davies, Senior Reporter, New Project Media
Sponsors
Event Partners: Gowling WLG, Forvis Mazars
Who Should Attend
- Renewable energy, storage, and distributed power developers
- Data center developers, operators, and site selection executives
- Hyperscale and enterprise energy procurement directors
- Infrastructure funds, private equity investors, and project finance lenders
- Independent power producers and utilities
- Energy offtake specialists and corporate sustainability leads
- Legal, financial, and technical transaction advisors
Logistics
The forum convenes at Gowling WLG, located at 4 More London Place, London, SE1 2AU, United Kingdom. Registration opens at 8:15 AM GMT with presentations starting at 9:00 AM, followed by an evening networking reception at 4:10 PM. Standard developer and IPP registration is £899 plus VAT, while developer partner passes (for investors, lenders, advisors, and corporate solutions providers) are £1,035 plus VAT. Reduced rates are available via application for startups, public sector bodies, and not-for-profit organizations.