TLT continues Future Energy focus with new Partner hire

TLT has announced the appointment of Helen Raynsford as a Partner in its Future Energy team in London, reinforcing the firm’s commitment to supporting clients to facilitate the UK’s energy transition.

Joining TLT from Osborne Clarke, Helen brings deep expertise advising on the development, structuring, and regulation of, and offtake from, energy projects.

Helen's expertise spans the project lifecycle, from innovative development stage structuring and grid connection arrangements, through to repowering, project disposal and decommissioning. In particular, Helen’s practice focuses on revenue arrangements including power, steam and hydrogen offtake, battery optimisation arrangements, and the Contracts for Difference and Capacity Market schemes, as well as electricity market and grid connection reform, licensing regimes, ownership unbundling and broader regulatory aspects governing energy sector transactions.

Most recently, Helen has been at the forefront of revenue structuring for co‑located solar and battery projects in Britain. Her experience includes advising on the UK’s largest portfolio of co‑located solar and battery energy storage sites (BESS) assets and negotiating what has been reported as the first banked, unsubsidised hybrid offtake agreement for solar and BESS. She has also advised on a number of other market‑leading and first‑of‑their‑kind transactions across BESS optimisation, merchant revenue models and corporate procurement of carbon‑free energy, including hydrogen.

Helen also brings significant in‑house experience, having served as senior legal counsel at Lightsource bp, one of Europe’s leading solar and storage developers. There, she advised on British and Spanish power purchase agreements, British operation and maintenance arrangements, and acted as legal lead for battery storage, supporting the development of the business’s first BESS project.

In addition to her technical expertise, Helen is recognised for her commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), social mobility and the development of talent; as well as for spearheading innovation, including the practical use of AI to support legal service delivery and client outcomes.

Commenting on her appointment, Helen said: “TLT has a market leading reputation for both its Future Energy sector team and genuinely collaborative, creative culture, and I am excited to be joining the firm at a time when the energy sector is undergoing such rapid change. I look forward to working together with colleagues and clients on the increasingly complex regulatory issues shaping the energy transition, and to joining a firm where our shared values are deeply embedded in strategy.”

Maria Connolly, Partner and Head of TLT’s cross-practice Future Energy sector team added: “Helen is an outstanding energy lawyer with a proven track record of advising on complex, market‑leading projects. Her expertise in revenue structuring, battery storage and regulatory frameworks is a perfect fit for our growing Future Energy practice and our clients’ needs. Just as importantly, Helen shares our values around innovation, collaboration, inclusion and people, and we are delighted to welcome her to the team.”

Helen’s appointment reflects TLT’s continued strategic investment in its Future Energy capability, supporting clients across the full lifecycle of energy projects as they navigate the legal, regulatory and commercial challenges of the transition to a low‑carbon economy. In 2025 this included the completion of the UK’s largest legal practice dedicated to public law, infrastructure planning and future energy, the appointment of commercial real estate and renewable energy specialist Nadia Wheeler, and the arrival of Corporate Future Energy Partner Michael Hamill.

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