Graham Weale Profile Picture

Keynote SpeakerGraham Weale

Expert on Future of Energy and Professor of Energy Economics

Graham Weale is an expert on Energy Transitions both in Europe and the USA. He has a deep understanding of their political, economic and technological dimensions explaining how end-goals can be achieved at the lowest cost to society. Weale has the ability to highlight the difficult issues that politicians face... Read more

Biography

Graham Weale is an expert on Energy Transitions both in Europe and the USA. He has a deep understanding of their political, economic and technological dimensions explaining how end-goals can be achieved at the lowest cost to society.

Weale has the ability to highlight the difficult issues that politicians face and to explain the challenges of such transitions in a way which is illuminating. Between 2007-16 Weale was Chief Economist at RWE, Germany’s largest power generator, and helped navigate the company through the German Energiewende (the move out of nuclear power into renewables).

Before this Graham Weale was Director of European Services for IHS Globalinsight (now CERA), one of the world’s leading energy and economic consultancies. Whilst his most recent experience focused on Europe’s electricity system, at Globalinsight he covered gas and coal extensively and was frequently engaged as an Expert Witness at high-profile gas contract arbitrations. His oil experience was gained with ExxonMobil.

Graham Weale has first-hand experience of all of the major forms of energy. The combination of his technical and commercial background from Oxford University enables him to offer unique insights into the junction of these two disciplines. In the late 1980s he was credited as the first energy expert to highlight the potential of the Combined Cycle Gas plant as a major source of power generation in Europe. Weale has also worked as advisor to the European Commission and other European Governments. He is a member of the IEA Business Council and was appointed Honorary Professor of Energy Economics at the Ruhr University Bochum (Germany’s 5th largest) in 2015.

"I am writing to extend my thanks for your brilliant speech at the conference. Your insights and engaging delivery captivated the audience and I have received numerous positive comments and feedback on your session and it also stirred a lot of questions about your presentation for its diverse yet realistic industry coverage. (Devina Singh, Conference Producer)" Argus Carbon Europe Conference
"On behalf of Leadvent Group, I would like to thank you for your excellent presentation at the 5th Hydrogen Finance Summit. Your insights on supply contracts were invaluable, greatly enriching our conference dialogue. (Mila Stankovic, Event Coordinator)." 5th Hydrogen Finance & Investment Summit, Amsterdam
"It was a pleasure to work with Graham, who adapted his talk to perfectly fit our audience's requirement. He was professional and so well organised as well as being charming to chat to throughout our engagement with him. Not only is Graham extremely knowledgeable on the energy transition subject but he is also a passionate speaker who deals in realities and priorities rather than unproven theory. We would absolutely recommend Graham for anyone who wants a well-argued realistic keynote on the environment, carbon and energy, whatever your sector." COO of the European Public Real Estate Association

Popular Talks by Graham Weale

  • Company Business Models to Drive the Energy Transition
    This presentation starts with some exciting game-changing decisions which large companies have announced. It next looks at the decarbonisation business models of six leading companies – Enel, Ørsted, Shell, TotalEnergies, Volkswagen and Tesla. Finally it focusses on the EU € 250 bn investment value chain in 2030 and suggests which...
  • Inspiration from Germany’s Reallabore – Exploiting Synergy to the Limits
    This presentation looks at six of the most innovative projects at a commercial scale which are supported by the Germany government to help decarbonise the country. It explains how they exploit the synergies of several different elements – renewable energy, hydrogen production, carbon capture and storage, use of the by-products...
  • EU Green Deal – Essential Conditions to Reach the Goal
    This highly ambitious project to reduce Europe’s emissions by 55% from 1990 to 2030 can only work if energies of different types are all targeted at the goal. The presentation looks at five different aspects of “energy”, all of which need careful coordination: political energy, clean energy, less energy, cheap...
  • From Geological to Meteorological Dominance – a Move towards a new World Order
    As the world moves into using green energy those countries which are rich in low-cost renewable resources will take the place of fossil-fuel producers. This presentation suggests how the geographical pattern of energy production will change and the implications for geo-politics. It further considers whether such energy (e.g hydrogen) will...
  • Hydrogen as Successor to Natural Gas – Economic, Technical and Contractual Challenges
    There is no shortage of hydrogen strategies or projects at the planning stage, but most of these are waiting for the host government to announce plans to subsidise both investment and operating costs. This presentation looks at a selection of projects announced together with the alternative forms of subsidy. It...
  • Green hydrogen and ammonia outlook
  • Molecule  goes global – why we need an import-oriented hydrogen strategy
  • Lessons learned from the natural gas experience
  • Comparability of natural gas and hydrogen contracts
  • Global allocation of renewable energy potential – implications for future green energy trade
  • Energy-intensive industry decarbonisation – keeping production in Europe
  • Hydrogen for Europe – bringing reality to the national strategies