Breakfast Briefing – Powering the cloud: How data centres can deliver sustainable growth

Rachel leads the industrial strategy work at Energy UK, looking at how the energy sector can work with commercial and industrial sectors to decarbonise, and how the energy transition can help develop UK supply chains and skills to maximise economic growth. Whilst at Energy UK Rachel has led work on Corporate Power Purchase Agreements, policy costs rebalancing in the non-domestic sectors and managing the energy impacts of data centres.  

Rachel joined Energy UK from DESNZ where she was head of policy for the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA). Prior to that she worked to maintain the Single Electricity Market in Ireland after EU Exit. She has 20 years’ experience working across a wide range of energy and climate policy roles in regional Government, consultancy and the energy industry.  

Sue is Director of techUK’s Tech and Innovation work. This includes driving techUK’s work programs, advocacy and activity on technologies including cloud computing, data analytics, Artificial Intelligence (including digital ethics), Digital Identity, Quantum, High Performance Computing as well as campaigns on innovative policy, R&D and emerging and transformative technologies key to the UK’s digital future. She has been recognized as one of the most influential people in UK tech by Computer Weekly’s UKtech 50 Longlist and in 2021 was inducted into the Computer Weekly Most Influential Women in UK Tech Hall of Fame. A key influencer in driving forward the data agenda in the UK Sue is co-chair of the UK government’s National Data Strategy Forum. She was also a member of the government’s Independent Review of the Future of Compute in 2023. 

Sue is a regular industry speaker on issues including AI ethics, data protection, R&D and cyber security at events and conferences in the UK and abroad and regularly engages with the media. Prior to joining techUK in January 2015 Sue was responsible for Symantec’s Government Relations in the UK and Ireland. She has spoken at events including the UK-China Internet Forum in Beijing, UN IGF and European RSA on issues ranging from data usage and privacy, cloud computing and online child safety. Before joining Symantec Sue was senior policy advisor at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Sue has an BA degree on History and American Studies from Leeds University and a Masters Degree on International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of Birmingham. In 2016 Sue also swam solo across the English Channel raising money for the RNLI and swam around Manhattan in New York to raise money for the Sue Ryder charity in 2023. 

Michael Jenner is Chief Executive Officer for Last Energy UK, focused on industrial decarbonisation through the deployment of micro nuclear power plants using private finance. He leads business development, operations, and strategic relationships across Last Energy’s business in the UK.  

Prior to Last Energy, he led major energy transition initiatives for Sembcorp Industries, a Temasek company, and also with a private equity firm. Michael has also held senior roles at National Grid and Ofgem, and ahead of moving into the industry, served as a member of HM Diplomatic Service. 

Mark Yeeles is the Vice President of Schneider Electric’s Secure Power division in the UK and Ireland, and the host of the DDI Podcast – one of the UK’s leading digital infrastructure podcasts.  

Today he works with Schneider Electric’s partner ecosystem to deliver sustainable, resilient and energy efficient data centre solutions for AI, cloud and enterprise organisations, including the life sciences and healthcare segments.  

From developing innovative strategies that decouple AI and data centre growth from power consumption, to decarbonising energy and reducing demand on the grid, Mark’s mission is to ensure data centres act as a catalyst for the green transition, and that efficiency and sustainability remain focal points for the infrastructure systems of the future. 

As one of the company’s senior technology leaders, Mark is also a passionate advocate for inclusion and care, apprenticeships and early careers. He believes that by raising awareness of the opportunities associated with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, and investing in equal opportunities for mentoring and leadership, the tech sector can make a positive impact on the skills gap. 

Lucy Yu is CEO at Centre for Net Zero, Octopus Energy Group’s non-profit energy and AI open research institute spearheading the transition to a fully sustainable global energy grid. Centre for Net Zero’s research has been accepted by leading global proceedings, including the What Works Climate Solutions Summit, a high level conference for evidence-based climate policy, and the International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), the world’s leading gathering of deep learning professionals.  

Lucy has over two decades of experience building and scaling global consumer-facing and deep tech ventures in AI, energy, data, and mobility; and developing technology policy and regulation for the UK government, European Commission, and the UN.  

In 2024 Lucy was appointed a Clean Power 2030 Advisory Commissioner by the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), followed by a further appointment in 2025 as the UK Government’s AI Champion for Clean Energy. 

Lucy is a non-executive director at E3G and Connected Places Catapult, and co-founder of the Institute for Ethical AI & Machine Learning, a global membership community of over 70,000 machine learning professionals. She sits on the Russell Group’s Industrial Strategy Expert Advisory Group.