Philip Brain

Experience

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  British Army

  Jan 1994 - Jan 2002

  RE Officer

  Philip was responsible for the routine management of a squadron (170 soldiers) and as such he planned and managed the squadron’s operations. Two notable projects included deployments to Belize and the Falkland Islands. In Belize Philip was responsible for programme managing four infrastructure development projects including the construction of a hurricane-resistant helicopter hangar, a remote jungle research station, a prison teaching facility (using convicts as unskilled labour) and the refurbishment of a local school. In the Falklands, Philip was responsible for planning and running a tri-service training exercise that tested the squadron’s ability to deploy from UK at short notice and take over the routine maintenance of the international airport and supporting infrastructure under combat conditions. Show less

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  Network Rail

  Feb 2002 - May 2003

  Assistant Project Manager

  Installation of the Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) on Southern Region. Achievements included managing a project to accelerate the number of installations being achieved and to develop and spread best practice to other regions.

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  Optimum Consultancy Ltd

  Mar 2003 - Nov 2010

  Director

  Starting as a Project Management consultant for Optimum Consultancy Ltd (previously Hama Ltd), I managed a number of low-carbon technology commercialisation projects for the Carbon Trust and over the course of seven years, built a team within Optimum that focused on managing carbon reduction projects.

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  The Carbon Trust

  May 2003 - Apr 2011

  Consultant Project Manager

  I provided programme development support to the Algae Biofuels Challenge, which was a £30m R&D project to develop algae for oil production and a production facility to demonstrate mass production. Previously I've managed of a study into the potential for advanced metering to incentivise energy savings for SMEs and a field trial of Micro-CHP and boilers plus laboratory investigations to assess the carbon saving potential of Micro-CHP and steer commercialisation activity towards the appropriate markets. I've also provided interim programme support to the Offshore Wind Accelerator, which is designed to accelerate the installation of Offshore wind farms through technical intervention. Other Optimum projects in the Carbon Trust include the Biomass Heat Accelerator, which is designed to accelerate the uptake of biomass heating and programme support to the R&D team. Show less

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  Technology Greenhouse

  Dec 2010 - Feb 2017

  Director

  Technology Greenhouse provided technical advisory and project management services to sustainable energy technology manufacturers and project developers. We also advised on the design of industry and government sponsored programmes. The company has now ceased trading and is in the process of being closed down.

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  NESTA

  Jul 2011 - Oct 2011

  Financing Industrial Biotechnology in the UK

  NESTA were interested in exploring the financing options for clean technologies that require significant infrastructure to develop (e.g. industrial biotechnology). I led a Technology Greenhouse team to investigate the scale and structure of industrial biotechnology activities in UK, interview a variety of companies and stakeholders involved in the nascent industrial biotechnology sector to identify their funding needs and their perception of finance availability and interview a variety of finance providers to understand their investment priorities and tolerance of risk. We then wrote a report based on our findings, which is available from: http://www.nesta.org.uk/about_us/assets/features/financing_industrial_biotechnology_in_the_uk Show less

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  Day One Energy Solutions

  Oct 2011 - Oct 2011

  Faciliation of strategy day

  Day One Energy Solutions is both a developer and financer of non-domestic energy efficiency projects. I facilitated their inaugural strategy day to inform the development of a corporate action plan.

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  Pepal

  Jan 2012 - Aug 2012

  Solar PV business development in rural India

  In January 2012 I joined a Pepal field trip to investigate the technologies available and the sales, marketing, installation and maintenance service infrastructure available to deploy these technologies. On my return, I have been involved in the collation and analysis of the investigation's results and in the design and development of a project to encourage the mass deployment of several solar PV technologies to rural communities that are unconnected, partially connected or unreliably connected to the regional electricity grid network. Show less

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  The Crown Estate

  Feb 2012 - Mar 2014

  I advised on the design and implementation of an industry standard framework for cost reduction monitoring in consultation with offshore wind industry consultants, project developers, OEMs and supply chain organisations. The framework will report annually on the current Levelised Cost of Energy at an industry level and on the industry's progress towards further reduced costs in future. I assisted The Crown Estate to develop a programme for leasing offshore wind demonstration sites in response to an identified gap between supply and demand. These sites will be used to demonstrate improved technologies and processes that aim to reduce the future cost of offshore wind. Interim role to manage the portfolio of strategic enabling actions projects under round 3 of the Crown Estate’s leasing of the seabed to offshore wind developers and their associated support to the offshore wind industry. This support involves working with the Government and the offshore wind industry at a strategic level to mitigate risks to the deployment of offshore wind generally and with individual developers to mitigate risks to their programmes of work.

  • Consultant - Offshore Wind Cost Reduction Monitoring Framework

    Sept 2013 - Mar 2014

  • Interim Offshore Wind Demonstration Sites Manager

    Jul 2012 - Dec 2013

  • Interim Strategic Workstreams Manager

    Feb 2012 - Jul 2012
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  IP Group plc

  May 2014 - Dec 2014

  Market research and business planning

  I've been conducting market research and commercialisation reviews for an investor in various sustainable energy device manufacturers and providing further business planning support as needed.

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  EDF Energy

  Aug 2014 - Sept 2014

  Bid Editor

  Sub-contracting through Shoney Wind, I reviewed and edited EDF’s bid to The Crown Estate for land rights to the Blyth offshore wind test and demonstration site near the national renewable energy centre (NaREC). I ensured that the bid demonstrated EDF’s long-term commitment to testing new technologies and the importance to EDF of developing that site in particular. EDF was selected by The Crown Estate as their preferred bidder and has subsequently signed an agreement for lease with them.

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  See Your Box

  Mar 2015 - Mar 2016

  Business Development Manager

  I'm assisting See Your Box to develop new services and the processes necessary to scale up its global, real-time, shipment monitoring capability. Case studies include:- an art dealer wanting to monitor the temperature, humidity, safety and security of their goods in transit;- a seed grower wanting to better understand and actively control the environmental conditions in their facilities as well as in transit so as to maximise their yield;- a fresh food packaging company wanting to easily distinguish their client's produce from counterfeits being sold to consumers in the far east. Show less

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  Energy Institute

  Apr 2016 - Mar 2018

  Student

  Renewing my knowledge of French, starting to learn Dutch and updating my energy efficiency and renewable energy qualifications. Looking to start work again in January 2018 when we move back to UK (Winchester).

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  None

  Jan 2018 - Feb 2018

  Job seeker

  Looking forward to getting back to work after 18 months studying and looking after the children in Belgium.

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  Kiwa UK

  Feb 2018 - Dec 2023

  Responsible for the delivery of Kiwa UK's heating and cooking appliance testing. inspection, certification services and Kiwa Energy's consultancy services. Consultancy work includes technical and project assessment of applications to Govt funds from hydrogen infrastructure and CCUS developers. Managing Kiwa's technical support to the Hy4Heat programme (https://www.hy4heat.info/); leading Kiwa’s development of the UK’s first hydrogen distribution nerwork; managing technical teams delivering hydrogen infrastructure feasibility & FEED studies and hydrogen safety assurance services; developing hydrogen related business in UK and with our EU colleagues.

  • Head of Operations

    May 2021 - Dec 2023

  • Senior Project Manager

    Feb 2018 - May 2021
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  Freelance

  Dec 2023 - Feb 2024

  Renewable Energy Project Specialist
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  Brain Consulting Ltd

  Feb 2024 - now

  Director

  Brain Consulting provides green energy technology acceleration services to:• Technology developers – on market penetration and scale up • Project developers – on technology procurement, system integration and operation • Innovation programme sponsors – on design & management of innovation support programmes and technology demonstration projects