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Natural Power appoints new Global Director of Planning


Leading renewable energy consultancy and service provider, Natural Power, has appointed William Black as Global Director of Planning.

William joins the business from The Scottish Government where he was Deputy Director for Onshore Electricity Policy, Energy Strategy & Energy Consents, responsible for nationally significant renewable projects and grid infrastructure.

Jeremy Sainsbury, Director at Natural Power, said: “We’re proud to be welcoming William to our team. His knowledge and experience will enable us to grow and help both new and existing clients in this fast expanding and dynamic market.”

As a member of the global leadership team, William is charged with leading Natural Power’s planning department to provide clients with first in class environmental planning advice, to ensure their projects achieve all the necessary planning and environmental permits to be constructed.  This includes projects in the UK, Ireland, France and the United States. He will work across all key sectors of interest including onshore wind, offshore wind, solar, storage and hydrogen.

On joining Natural Power, William said: “We have a very strong team here, with a good mix of developer and policy experience to deliver first in class planning advice to our clients, ensuring both experienced developers and new market entrants secure all the necessary planning consents needed to construct a project, in a timely manner.

“The Scottish Government is very clear in its vision to deliver even more renewables, through its ambition of another 8 to 12GW of onshore, and then more recently the 25GW of offshore wind associated with the ScotWind projects.  It is great to be a part of a Scottish-based company that can help Scotland meet this ambition by supporting our clients to deliver their pipeline of projects.

“Natural Power has a strong track record of delivering renewable projects and as the sector continues to grow, we’re really well placed to grow with it as we understand what is needed to develop, construct and operate green energy projects, having done it for the last 25 years.”

Natural Power provides a range of planning and permitting related services right the way through an asset’s life. Its planning department brings together qualified planners with project managers and a range of technical specialists to support clients throughout their projects. Find out more here www.naturalpower.com/uk/expertise/service/advisory/planning-permitting-and-environment

If you are interested in a career with Natural Power, visit www.naturalpower.com/uk/careers – new opportunities are being posted regularly and speculative applications are also being accepted now.