Kevin Keable reflects on his first year as EEEGR chair

Karen Freeman has been in her new role since June and has taken on the challenge as I expected she would, head long and with a passion.

She has a relatively new team with her, a great group of people who are rising to the challenge that is EEEGR and Skills for Energy.

When I took on the role as chair of EEEGR in September 2023, I had been out of the industry for a few years. With happy memories of being an EEEGR member, attending its events and the several contracts it helped me win, I was looking forward to the role.

However, in those first few months I received several disparaging comments about EEEGR. It was a little disheartening, but it gave me the impetus to change those views and the way EEEGR was perceived.

There are hundreds of people to meet and collaborate with, let alone the 200 members. A year in and I’m still struggling to meet everybody – this is a part-time role; I don’t work Sunday evenings!

When I first joined EEEGR, I would ask people what they thought were the benefits of being a member. People often found it difficult to put into words what it is that EEEGR does for members and for the region.

Some of what we do for our stakeholders is visible: SNS, the House of Commons Reception and the End of Year Awards are all sell out successes; but a lot of what we do is beneath the surface.

The House of Commons Reception was a high-profile event organised by EEEGR. (Image: Sonya Duncan) Everyone knows that we put on networking breakfasts, with members speaking about an interesting topic or two. We have also partnered with OEUK twice this year. We are also partnering with the Association for Project Management and will be putting on a breakfast meeting with them – hopefully the first of several.

We have some key partnerships: the Energy Industries Council, Innovate UK, Norwegian Offshore Wind and many more. With these partnerships we aim to bring opportunities to the East of England and to help our members across the rest of the UK and overseas.

EEEGR facilitates several sector councils: Gas Transition, Marine Science and Technology, Onshore Renewables and EastWind (which is run independently). There are not enough column inches here to talk about them, but look them up on our website, as some fantastic work is done here.

Working in conjunction with Shell and the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), EEEGR recently brought together 42 people from across the country and overseas to talk about decommissioning. We hope to significantly increase the tonnage of redundant material brought to our region and we are in the throes of setting up a sector council for that.

Skills for Energy (SfE) leads the way in how we interact with local schools and colleges, and our partnership with OPITO and sponsorship from the developers, such as RWE, really allows us to be creative in getting the STEM message across to students.

There is always more to do, and we would value your input into how we take SfE forward into the next decade.

We talk to MPs quite regularly; I have recently had three, in-depth conversations and several emails with the new Lowestoft MP, Jess Asato, who is very supportive of energy projects in this region and who this week has sponsored our next House of Commons Reception in April 2025.

By the time you read this, I will have met with South Norfolk MP Ben Goldsborough and spoken on a Labour Party webinar about energy.

It is really important that we have a good relationship with the government, and we certainly do in the guise of the NSTA, which is very supportive of our supply chain activities in the region, the Bacton Energy Hub and much more.

We spend a lot of time talking to all the relevant local authorities; we talk about skills and, importantly, economic development and where the energy industry needs support from the councils – we are your voice for this, use us!

A recent meeting brought together 42 people from across the country and overseas to talk about decommissioning (Image: EEEGR) GENERATE, which is a partnership between local authorities and businesses, works with us to promote the East of England at Global Offshore Wind at the OEEC exhibition and conference in Amsterdam.

Next year, as we get our pavilions back on the road, we will be attending Global Offshore Wind in London.

One of the things nobody warned me about was the number of times the BBC would need an interview. I have realised that live interviews are much easier than planned recordings, for me at least. The Politics East Show was a breeze in comparison to being asked about AR5 in my front garden one windy afternoon!

Media representation, in all its forms, is a key ingredient in what we do for the region.

A year on and I am very happy to say that membership is on the increase, we have transformed our reputation and have excellent relations now with our members, sponsors, local authorities, the new government and educational establishments.

What is most encouraging is that old members are coming back. TMS Media, TGS 4C, Delta Fire, Stowen, Reuzer, Gibb Group and many more. With great support from Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils and ScottishPower Renewables, we crafted the 5 Core Principles. As we move forward, we will build on these foundations.

For more information, visit eeegr.com