25 years of partnerships: Discussions with senior leaders

Please note the transcript has been edited to improve readability

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Maria Connolly:
Hello, my name is Maria Connolly and I'm Head of the Cross Practice Future Energy team here at TLT. Delighted to be joined today by Monika Paplaczyk, Chief Investment Officer at Thrive Renewables and one of TLT's longest standing clients in the future energy sector.

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The future energy market has grown and transformed dramatically over the course of our relationship. And in that time, TLT has provided a wide range of legal services to Thrive Renewables, supporting Thrive in identifying and taking advantage of opportunities in what has been a vibrant and dynamic sector.

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Monika is kindly joining us today to talk about how much our respective businesses have changed in the last 25 years and how this has impacted our working relationship. We'll also be discussing how we've worked together to empower women in the sector and looking to the future and what is coming next, for Thrive and TLT.

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So just reflecting on the last 25 years, the absolute explosion of the renewable energy market in the last two decades has been phenomenal, with Thrive and TLT both having played such a significant part in that journey together. The market has evolved significantly, driven by the development of new technologies such as battery storage, as well as policy changes and increased global awareness of climate change and wider sustainability.

Monika, what would you say have been the most significant milestones for the market and what opportunities have these milestones created for Thrive?

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Monika:

Yeah, I was just recently reflecting on the growth that's happened over the years. Thrive Renewables was set up in 1994, thirty years ago, to very much address climate change. It was very early days and at that time I think only 1% of electricity was coming from renewables _– some hydro, and a few other things. Wind energy was in the early days, and solar was experimental.

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So forward 30 years, as you say, the explosion of renewables technologies has been amazing. Today, we are in a situation where the technologies are proven, safe, very efficient, and deliver in the UK over 50% of electricity. So it's been an amazing success story. Along the way there was a lot of support from governments, and various schemes that helped support renewables, such as feed-in tariffs and renewables obligations.

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I think it's fair to say that the industry is strong right now and we're delivering cheap electricity for the UK, making the UK energy system very resilient, secure, and from a carbon perspective, we're really getting to net zero. I think we're halfway there, which is amazing. The next step will be thinking about other technical solutions -– _ how to make renewables as close to 100% as possible.

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Another thing worth reflecting on is the change in perception of renewables. Thirty years ago, when we started Thrive, it was very much niche. Nobody really thought of renewables ever being the core of the energy system. Where we are today, 82% of the UK population supports renewable energy.

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And we as Thrive, people, planet, and profit is something that has been really core to Thrive. And that connection and going back to our story was about bringing people together. Today, we have a community of over 6,000 shareholders. Going back to the growth of renewables, from the first project we did in the late 90s _-– a 1 Mega Watt (MW) hydro -– to date, we've done 45 projects in the UK. So yes, we are really excited about the growth.

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I should also say, in terms of the industry, back in those days, nobody knew exactly how to put these things together. The role of organisations like TLT has been tremendous in thinking about how to structure these things in a way that makes them a really good investment as well.

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Maria:

I think it's been an amazing journey, Monika, and one that it's been an absolute privilege to support you and the team with throughout. In fact, it's been great to see so many of your projects in action. I remember a very memorable site visit to one of your early wind projects, which I think was for a long time England's tallest wind turbine. It's been great to support you on the journey and see what the portfolio has now delivered, and to be part of what you've delivered.

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How has TLT supported you, do you think, in making the most of some of those opportunities that have arisen over the last two decades?

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Monika:

It's interesting you mention the project in East Anglia that you visited, because I think that might have been the first project we worked on together. And we’ve just repowered this project, overhauled the turbine, and what that shows is how the industry is evolving into this next phase.

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Going back to how TLT has supported us: we've worked with your team right from the start when we try to identify a project and think, is this a good site? In terms of due diligence around various aspects- site, planning, property, contracts – and really travelling with that early site identification to due diligence for finance, supporting project agreements, negotiation, and then during the operational phase as well; in terms of Operations and Management and various situations that these projects come across. And then, once we come to the later stages of these operational projects, also helping us with how to secure longer-term operations on these sites, including things like repowering.

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So, we've really worked with your team throughout the life of these projects, and it's been great. Initially, Thrive was very much concentrated on wind. We've done a lot of wind projects until 2015. Then we realised we actually do need diversification in terms of technology, in terms of types of contracts, types of revenues, and different places within the UK. And again with these new technologies, your team has been really helpful in helping us get into new areas such as solar, geothermal, and battery storage.

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As you said, the market has been booming and evolving. There's always something new in the sector– Contracts for Difference, things like grid reform, all these new things coming in. A big part of this is how it's structured and how it relates to regulations and policy. It's been great working with your team because you do bring that breadth of cross-industry expertise on the legal side.

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And as well, we are growing so we are now a team of 21. As you know, back in the day there was only a couple of us. So as our team is growing, I've always valued the support and development your team has given us in terms of supporting our team as we grow and develop.

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Maria:

One of the things that you and I have both been very focused on but also very passionate about throughout our careers is empowering women in the renewable energy sector. What would you say have been some of the significant highlights for you, Monika?

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Monika:

I do see huge change in the last 20 years or so. There are more women in the industry, there are a lot more women also in engineering roles, which is amazing to see because we do need to go through a big change in the industry to achieve net zero, so things like grid really need changing. Seeing women in those roles you can really see how the dial is changing by having diverse views.

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On that journey, it's important to have those role models and mentors – women people can look up to. Maria, you've been that person for many of us, definitely for me. Having patience, giving examples, and taking people with you on a journey – I've always valued this. We all have to do more to make it even more open for people to join the industry.

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I'm really excited about where it's going because so many wonderful organisations are helping women on this journey - organisations such as Powerful Women, and Regen’s ReWire team and there are many more. I'm very supportive of all these kinds of initiatives in the industry and everything else we as women can do to make it even more welcoming to others joining the industry. Over 50% of people on our Board are women, including our Chair, which is really amazing to see.

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Maria:

So Monika, one of the things that has been very aligned between TLT and Thrive over our 20+ year relationship is our absolute commitment to sustainability and ESG. That is very much at the heart of our values, but also at the heart of both businesses. I think we've both got a shared ambition around greater collaboration, raising awareness in relation to this as such an important issue.

What advice would you give to other businesses who are on their sustainability and ESG journey to really accelerate the progress insofar as sustainability and ESG are concerned?

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Monika:

Oh, wow, this is a great question, Maria. I'm really buzzing this week because we attended the Business Green Awards and we were delighted that Thrive won the ESG Investor of the Year.

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Maria

Congratulations!

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Monika

What dawned on me at that dinner was that there was this huge room of all kinds of businesses that are really taking sustainability seriously. It’s just amazing to see that sustainability is important in different ways – caring for the planet, energy transition, and people as well. The focus you put on business, but I think it's important to think of these elements, and think what can I do on all of this?

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Thrive is a B Corp company. We were set up because of sustainability, we wanted to get into a greener future for future generations. Having gone through the B Corp process it has been really useful for us as a business as well. We've looked at ourselves across the different things we do. When you are a business that was set up for sustainability, you don't always think of everything or it’s not always formulated very systematically, so that’s been useful for us. I would say it's a good thing to look at in terms of B Corps.

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Another thing is what you can do – - something we've been keen on at Thrive is private wire. So we think where it’s possible, businesses should look at generating electricity on their own site. Since 2011, we've been investing in wind projects on sites where it can be connected to local factories and so on. I’ll give you an example, we have a project in Cambridgeshire, electricity is delivered to a local factory – - about 70% of the electricity from the wind turbine we built there is used on site, and for them in turn, that’s about 50–60% I think of the electricity they need. That sustainability is obviously very much about the environment because it’s using clean electricity, but it’s also helping them with their supply chains – being able to say, "this is powered by clean energy."

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Maria:

What do you think the future holds for Thrive Renewables in relation to its continued contribution to the sector? And perhaps as part of that, how do you see your legal needs evolving?

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Monika:

At Thrive, we’ve been very much focused on the UK energy system. A couple of years ago, we got together and were thinking “where shall we go from here”. And we’ve agreed a strategy to double our capacity and we are very much on the journey to achieve that. So we acquired last year one of our largest projects – it’s a 57 MW project in Scotland, and we are now building this project. So we are very excited about that. We have a pipeline of other projects as well.

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We're also very keen on community energy and how community energy can work with commercial developers, investors, and owners. We've been very much advocating for more community energy share in projects.

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In terms of our future legal needs as well, projects are a lot more complex than they were before. And one of the reasons is, as we approach a majority of energy coming from renewables, we have more reliance on merchant revenues, as we call them, so that depends on the electricity market and trading. There's a lot more battery storage and flexibility on the system. So every project is a lot more complicated than it used to be. That legal role on a project is fundamentally key to a project success and really having expertise in these very specific areas. So whether it's grid or property or planning or funding it is really important.

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We really value working with you because you have those various aspects of the practice. In terms of the project complexity, you know the community which is very much core to Thrive, and how we make that part of the project; so working with you in a flexible, collaborative way and thinking outside the box, because many things are no longer standard. But they can be done if there is a will from the different parties. That's really exciting for the future of both Thrive Renewables and yourselves.

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And where do you see Maria, your future? There's so many interesting things TLT is doing and I like how you bring together and make the industry collaborate as well. So where do you see the future with TLT?

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Maria:

Absolutely. I think collaboration will be a key component of what we'll still advocate for, particularly in relation to ESG and sustainability. That's what we're doing as an employer, but also how we can help others accelerate on the journey. And I think it’s all about the more we can collaborate, sharing that best practice, promoting greater awareness.

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As I often say to colleagues here, if you can just do something, the time is very much now. So, working together and really getting to where we need to be in relation to all things ESG, sustainability, and net zero will absolutely remain a core pillar of our strategy but absolutely at the heart of our values.

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In relation to the future energy sector more widely I think we're at a really important, critical, but exciting time. We've got lots of mature technologies now, grid reform moving in the right direction to try and unlock some of those challenges. The priority now is to get things built, commissioned, generating clean power – Clean Power 2030 is hugely exciting. So really ambitious and keen to continue to play such an important part that we do collectively in relation to the deployment of many more gigawatts of clean power onto the UK grid.

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Monika:

Yeah, collaboration I think is key. Some of the networking and events you've organised, especially in the last 12 months that I have attended, have been testament to that. We don't have to compete with each other as an industry – it's about finding solutions together, and I really value that. Thank you for that.

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Maria:

Thank you very much.

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