Alex Weir
Expert in energy policy
Contact Alex
"To accelerate the energy transition, we need to harness the power of markets to drive exponential growth in clean solutions. This in turn means helping policy-makers understand how businesses make investment decisions, and helping businesses understand how policy works – which is at the heart of my work for clients at Baringa."
At a glance:
Joined Baringa in
2020
Works across
Power markets, renewable energy, new nuclear, carbon capture and storage, policy and market design
What job would you be doing in another life?
Leading ecology and conservation research trips in the Indonesian jungle (something I did for six months after leaving university, and was very tempted to do on a permanent basis!)
In detail:
Alex joined Baringa in October 2020 after over 10 years working on energy policy as a senior civil servant for the UK Government. Over this time, he led teams responsible for renewables policy and delivery, new nuclear negotiations, electricity decarbonisation strategy, and many aspects of the Electricity Market Reform programme.
At Baringa, Alex focusses on helping clients understand the complex and ever-changing energy policy and market landscape to inform their business strategy and investment decisions. This could include supporting clients in negotiations with Government, helping them understand the implications of zonal versus national pricing in the power market, redesigning offshore wind seabed leasing processes, developing winning strategies for renewables auctions, or understanding the potential trajectory of carbon prices and value of carbon dioxide removal credits.
Alex’s goal is to accelerate the transition to a low carbon society by supporting the development of sustainable and economically viable business models and strategies. He uses his deep understanding of energy markets and Government processes to bring a holistic, ‘whole system’ approach to questions of what, where and when to invest, how to structure commercial propositions, and how markets should be re-designed to drive a rapid, fair and efficient low carbon economy.
Prior to becoming a civil servant, Alex completed a PhD and post-doctoral research in animal behaviour at Oxford University, focussing in particular on tool use and cognition in New Caledonian crows. He was fortunate enough to observe the first example of deliberate tool manufacture for novel problem solving in a non-primate animal when ‘Betty’ the crow bent some wire into a hook to retrieve a bucket of food – a finding that generated considerable media interest and has inspired significant subsequent research.
Outside of work, Alex lives in St Albans with his wife and two children, and enjoys spending time with his family in the outdoors – walking, running, skiing and sailing where possible.
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