Westmill Co-op Board
Mark Luntley (Chair)
Mark had a career as local government accountant starting at the Audit Commission. Mark was the Finance Director at Oxford City Council for seven years and before joining the Local Government Association where he developed the business case for the UK’s first Local Government Bond Agency.
More recently Mark has focussed on creating more community-owned renewable energy projects. Mark helped found and subsequently chaired the Oxfordshire Credit Union, he chairs Westmill Wind Coop and was a founding director of Westmill Solar Coop which is one of the most successful projects of its type in the UK.
As a non-executive director at Energy4All, Mark focusses on relationships with member cooperatives and international relations. In 2021 Mark was re-elected to the eight-person board of “REScoop” – which represents renewable energy cooperatives across Europe. He was also elected to the board of Community Energy England in 2019.
Gary Bills
Gary is a seasoned mechanical engineer with a deep specialization in wind turbine gearboxes. His extensive career in clean energy began at Hansen Transmissions (now ZF Gears), where he oversaw a global team of 40 field service engineers specializing in wind turbine repairs and upgrades.
He then transitioned to Nordex, a leading German wind turbine manufacturer, where for 8 years he was responsible for UK and then Nordic markets. He subsequently returned to the UK to head business development for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America at Mott MacDonald, a major engineering consultancy.
Gary then served as Managing Director for the UK and Regional Director for Europe at K2 Management, a top-tier on and offshore wind consultancy. His responsibilities included overseeing due diligence, wind analysis, and construction services.
Currently, he is the Chief Operating Officer at Ignitis Renewables UAB, a Baltic independent power producer. He manages a 7GW development pipeline encompassing onshore, offshore, and solar assets, with a focus on constructing this renewable energy portfolio.
Mike Blanch (Advisor)
Mike is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with 17 years experience in renewable energy. From 1991 to 2004 he worked in wind energy related research firstly for 2 years at Cranfield University and then at the Energy Research Unit at CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Mike has since worked for AEA Future Energy Solutions where he provided consultancy services to both private and public sector organisations primarily in wind energy technologies. Mike is currently the Wind Energy Manager at Atkins which includes providing consultancy services and the management of the development of two wind farms. Mike also chairs the WeSET charity.
Douglas Parr
Dr Douglas Parr is Chief Scientist and Policy Director at Greenpeace UK. He has worked as an environmental activist for over a quarter of a century, first working on climate policy and the role of local authorities in emissions cuts in early 1990s. That was after obtaining a doctorate in atmospheric chemistry, in particular the ozone layer, from Oxford University in 1991. Since that time he has worked on a number of green issues including agriculture, chemicals policy, green refrigeration, marine conservation and bioenergy. However the last few years have been mostly focused on the technologies and policies of clean energy. Engaged in such detail as helping and supporting the first Feed-in-Tariff regime and getting full Renewable Obligation support for offshore wind’s first farms in the noughties. And going right up to now, as the dawn of low cost renewables is turning upside down the mantras of conventional thinking on energy. He has been a shareholder in WWF since the outset.
Vivian Woodell
Vivian has been a member of Westmill Wind Farm Co-op since its launch and has taken a keen interest in its development and governance. He was founder and CEO of The Phone Co-op and is Vice President of The Midcounties Co-operative and a board member of Co-operatives Europe. His background is in the development of enterprises in the Co-operative Movement, and he brings brings that perspective of co-operative entrepreneurship to this role.
Vivian believes our common need to tackle climate change by changing the way we produce and consume energy should be our co-operative’s central focus, while generating an adequate (but not excessive) economic return. He also believes that we should build on our achievements to date by ensuring our co-operative has a long-term future. We will sadly not have solved the problems of climate change when our wind farm reaches its 25th anniversary in less than a decade, and although the original plan was to wind our co-operative up at that time, Vivian supports the idea that we should continue to trade into the future, potentially growing with additional projects. He welcomes the closer partnership with Westmill Solar Co-operative, of which he is also a member.
Vivian also welcomes the move to enable members to receive a co-operative trading dividend as energy consumers through a tariff developed in partnership with Midcounties Co-op and Younity, as this means we are enabling our members to use the power we generate, building a stronger co-operative relationship with members and the wider co-op movement.
Josh Brown
Josh has worked in renewable energy since 2011, starting as a Project Manager at renewable energy consultancy Natural Power where he carried out feasibility assessments for over 60 onshore wind and solar farm sites, and developed a number of large-scale wind farms and solar farms through to construction in the UK and Ireland. Josh then worked for Co-op Energy for three years as the Renewables Manager. This involved managing their PPA portfolio, which almost exclusively consisted of community energy sites. From this he established a good working knowledge of the community energy sector and the PPA market.
Since 2020 Josh has worked for SSE as the Commercial Arrangement Manager, where he focuses on route to market, ancillary services, Corporate PPAs, hydrogen and International markets for their 4 GW+ renewable portfolio in the UK and Internationally.
Noora Firaq
Noora Firaq, having grown up in the Maldives, one of the most climate-vulnerable countries, brings firsthand experience of climate change to her work. Her background has fuelled her passion for inclusive global conversations on climate action, specifically about collective power for energy transition. Starting from her business school dissertation, Noora has always been passionate about community renewable energy projects in the UK, especially how we normalise energy transition within communities and how we finance community-based renewable energy projects. After Business and Law school, Noora began her career in the UK at the Financial Ombudsman Service and worked in and with charities and mission-driven organisations such as Ethex and Westmill Solar Cooperative.
Noora is currently the Deputy CEO at Climate Outreach, working to ensure people trust, support and have a say in the changes we must make to address climate change. Noora is very proud of Climate Outreach’s flagship programme, Britain Talks Climate, which provides evidence that most people in the UK care about climate and are most enthusiastic about solar and wind projects in their area. Noora has also played a pivotal role, leading teams at UN COP26, 27, and 28, using social science and soft diplomacy to influence Action for Climate Empowerment (Article 12 of the Paris Agreement) negotiations.
Noora is excited to use her financial expertise and knowledge of public engagement from around the world to support the co-op and maximise its impact over the coming years. Noora believes the Westmill Wind Farm Co-op story is a success story that can inspire more renewable energy co-ops to accelerate the energy transition we need.
Jess Dunning
Jess has a great passion for Community Energy, working in the community energy sector since graduating from her studies, where she had completed a dissertation on the role and potential for community energy groups to contribute to a Net Zero future in England. She has previously worked as a project officer at SELCE, marketing for their Future Fit Homes retrofit programme, and Community Energy London where she looked after membership, organising several events and developing a peer mentoring programme to support the development of new community energy groups in London. Jess also freelanced for Community Energy England, supporting Policy and Advocacy, and in September 2022 was shortlisted for the Youth Energy Award at the Community Energy England Awards.
In February of 2023, Jess began a new role with Joju Solar and Energy4All, developing rooftop solar community energy projects. Jess is also a director of Youth EmPowered, a new community energy group focused on empowering more young people to get involved in community energy projects and boards of directors.
