My early career path was heavily driven by my enthusiasm for being part of the renewable energy industry and my curiosity to learn. I worked across a wide variety of technologies, which gave me a good grounding in the industry. I took up as many opportunities as possible to attend conferences, talks, and networking events. These were sometimes challenging as I was often one of the few women in the room, but I pushed myself through the uncomfortableness to grow my knowledge and connections. Since then, I have seen the industry change and develop. For example, at the first awards event I attended in 2016, there were about 30 women out of 300 attendees, and whilst the most recent wasn’t 50% there were certainly more women present than I could speak to! This demonstrates the steps individuals in the industry have taken to encourage and support more women entering the solar sector.

Earlier in my career, I sometimes felt that my knowledge and experience weren’t acknowledged, believed or expected by others and that I had to prove my knowledge before I was taken seriously. I think this was a combination of being both young and female in what historically was a male-dominated industry, where clients, colleagues, and suppliers were more used to interacting with older men. I have been fortunate to have had supportive male and female managers who encouraged me to be more authoritative, as when I first started, I was often hesitant in meetings to share my opinions and suggestions. I am far more self-confident now; practice certainly helps!

Across the C&I sector specifically, more women are joining this segment, including far more female engineers than when I started. This is a really positive step, and I’m fortunate that within SAS Energy, we have a gender balance of around 60:40 male to female. We have women working across a variety of roles, although there are fewer working in onsite roles, such as site managers or commissioning engineers. This status is not just specific to the C&I sector, as engineering and onsite roles in every industry do tend to suffer from a lack of diversity despite improvements over the years.

One key action being undertaken is continuing educational outreach to facilitate the future diversity of the industry. SAS Energy and EDF Renewables regularly engage with local schools to educate on career opportunities, explain the industry in the context of climate change, or host visits to our operational sites. Bringing awareness of the roles available makes the industry more accessible in terms of known career options at the point that young people are making career decisions. Increased numbers of apprenticeship and graduate schemes can provide additional opportunities, and mentorships, where women are paired with female leaders, can showcase the potential growth available.

Active participation in Networks is a valuable tool in the industry alongside more formalized training plans to foster a welcoming and inclusive working environment.

Finally, I’d really like to encourage people to enter the solar industry. There is space for everyone to grow, and I’d encourage anyone, especially women who often suffer from imposter syndrome, to grab opportunities with both hands. My top advice would be to put yourself out there at events. Even though networking can be intimidating, set yourself the goal of speaking to three people you don’t know and then you can chat with people you do know! I’ve found this approach to encourage myself out of my comfort zone without putting too much pressure on myself.

Deanna is the Director of Development at SAS Energy, EDF Renewables’ C&I Solar Business, whose dedicated focus is on developing, funding, constructing, and operating onsite renewable generation for commercial and industrial clients. Deanna has worked in the renewable energy industry for over eight years designing, de-risking and securing financing for a broad range of renewable energy systems. She started her career working for OHM Energy where she was able to grow a broad knowledge of the renewable energy sector. Since joining EDF Renewables in 2019 she has enjoyed focusing on the solar sector, working across a wide scale range of projects from 100kW up to 600MW. 

Interested in joining Deanna Greenhalgh and other women industry leaders and experts at Women in Solar Europe? Find out more: www.wiseu.network