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The founder and chief executive of renewable energy company Good Energy, Juliet Davenport, has been elected to the board of the Renewable Energy Association (REA).

Davenport, who was awarded an OBE for services to renewables in 2013, founded Good Energy in 1999. She has since been appointed to the board of the Natural Environment Research Council and most recently to the board of Innovate UK.

Davenport said the market is “unrecognisable” from the one she entered 20 years ago.

She added: “Consumers have more choice over their tariffs and suppliers, but also on how they use and generate energy for their homes and businesses.

“We are moving towards a decentralised energy system that will at its core be renewable.  This can’t happen quickly enough. The outdated centralised hub and spoke system is inefficient, dirty and increasingly out of step with what a modern country needs.

“New developments of technologies such as wind and solar are now the cheapest forms of power, but we need the grid, the regulations and the supportive government policy to ensure we have the smarter, cheaper and cleaner energy market the UK needs to face the challenges of our society for the future.

“Increasingly these issues are overlapping and complex, and the REA is the pan-technology trade association that can authoritatively represent the progressive companies that span this industry. I’m delighted to join the board to help accelerate this energy transition putting the customer at the core of our future, clean energy system.”

The REA, which is the largest renewable energy and clean technology trade association in the UK, represents renewable energy producers and promotes the use of all forms of renewable energy across power, heat, transport and recycling.

Nina Skorupska, chief executive of the REA, described Davenport as being “one of the most influential voices in the UK for advancing renewables”.

She added: “The REA has always been at the forefront of the industry, from the setting up of the feed-in tariff and renewable heat incentive, to the new enabling technologies of battery storage and EV charging.

“We are entering a new, more challenging, period as an industry, and having Juliet with us will be crucial to our members and the association’s goal of growing the renewable and clean tech economy.”