When people picture renewable energy, they often see the finished technology: wind turbines turning on a hillside, solar panels catching the light or batteries storing energy for later use. What we see less often are the people who turn those ideas into working infrastructure—and the persistence, problem-solving and collaboration required to make that happen.
In this episode of Conversations with Agents of Change, Izy Boyd speaks with Killian Halpin, a renewable-energy engineer who has overseen the development and construction of more than half a gigawatt of capacity across Ireland and the UK.
Killian’s story is not one of a perfectly planned career or a lifelong certainty about his vocation. In fact, he admits that he did not enjoy engineering when he first studied it. It was only later that he began to understand it differently: not simply as a technical discipline, but as “solution making.”
That shift gave his work a new sense of purpose. Engineers, he explains, quietly shape much of the world we rely upon. Every time we cross a bridge, enter a building, use a product or travel along a road, we place our trust in solutions that someone has carefully designed, tested and delivered.
From witnessing change to choosing impact
Killian’s route into renewable energy became clearer during the ten years he spent in Australia. Living and working in Tasmania brought him close to landscapes and ecosystems that felt more in harmony with the natural world—but it also allowed him to witness their vulnerability.
He recalls diving in a giant kelp forest that was later lost following a marine heatwave. He also saw unusually dry conditions contribute to fires affecting ancient trees and rainforest. These experiences made climate change immediate and tangible rather than distant or theoretical.
Later, after returning to Ireland and becoming a father, his professional direction became a conscious choice. He asked what future his work was helping to create for his children and where his skills could make the greatest practical difference. For him, the answer was wind energy.
It is a perspective that combines the personal with the pragmatic. Killian does not describe himself as an activist. Instead, he tentatively offers another word: a “practivist”—someone focused on the practical work of creating change.
Progress is not a straight line
One of the most striking qualities in this conversation is Killian’s grounded optimism. He does not minimise the environmental, political or infrastructure challenges ahead. He is candid about constraints in Northern Ireland’s electricity grid, the time required to build new capacity and the complications involved in any major transition.
Yet he rejects the idea that a difficult moment means progress has stopped.
“It’s not going to be a straight line,” he says. “Things will go up, things will go down, things will get better, things will get worse… I do think we’re on the right path.”
His hope is rooted in what he can already see: renewable projects being built, technology improving, systems becoming more efficient and electrification creating opportunities beyond electricity generation itself. Cleaner power can help transform transport, home heating and industry, while contributing to cleaner air, cleaner water and cleaner land.
The conversation also challenges the way renewable technologies are sometimes judged. Wind and solar infrastructure have impacts, just as all infrastructure does. The meaningful question is not whether a solution has any cost, but how its full costs and benefits compare with the system it is replacing.
Leadership that responds to reality
After managing complex projects involving multiple organisations and disciplines, Killian is wary of treating leadership as a single fixed model. Different people, industries and circumstances require different approaches.
For him, leadership is ultimately about “getting people to want to do the thing that makes the thing happen.” It means bringing people together around a shared direction—and adapting to the reality of the team and the task rather than imposing a theory upon them.
That understanding mirrors his approach to engineering. Both depend upon curiosity, context and a willingness to work with complexity rather than pretend it does not exist.
Everyone has an impact
At the end of every episode, Izy asks her guest what being an Agent of Change means to them. Killian’s answer turns the question back on all of us.
He believes everyone is an Agent of Change because everything we do has an impact. The challenge is accepting responsibility for that impact, increasing the positive and limiting the negative.
That responsibility is not always easy. Change takes dedication. An idea that appears obvious can become complicated as soon as someone tries to implement it. Existing systems usually developed for reasons—even when they no longer work well—and meaningful progress requires the patience to understand those reasons.
It also requires humility.
“Any successful society or technology grows with people who say, ‘I don’t know. Let’s find out,’” Killian reflects. Progress slows when we decide that we already know enough.
This is perhaps the central idea of the conversation. Change is not created by certainty alone. It is created by people who are prepared to ask better questions, test their assumptions, work through complications and keep building.
Killian’s work reminds us that the transition to renewable energy is not only an environmental story. It is also a story about communities, local economies, public health, energy security and the kind of future we choose to construct together.
Listen to the full episode of Conversations with Agents of Change to hear Killian’s journey and his hopeful, practical perspective on the energy transition.
No responses yet