Why we started AmpTrust

Nearly twenty years in renewables teaches you a few things. The technology has changed beyond recognition. The money has changed beyond recognition. But the people who actually keep this industry running have never had a professional body that truly represents them.

That is what AmpTrust was built to fix.

It started as a conversation between a small group of us who had spent long enough watching good engineers leave the industry, watching standards slip, and watching trade bodies that were structurally unable to represent the people on the tools. We did not want another logo. We wanted a trust mark. Something that, when you saw it next to a name, told you that person was the real deal.

So we built one.

Our industry is full of brilliant people who have never had a professional body that truly represents them. AmpTrust puts morals before profit and safety before speed. We are giving technical professionals a real voice, one that shapes standards, influences policy, and ensures the people delivering the UK's clean energy future are recognised, supported, and heard.

On 2 April 2026, 17 of us gathered at RES Group headquarters in Kings Langley for the inaugural AmpTrust Annual General Meeting. We formalised the founding board, elected Matt Newbury as Chair, and appointed Robert Harley and Clive Cosby as Vice Chairs covering C&I and utility-scale respectively.

We agreed four priorities for 2026: technical standards, membership growth, the website and digital platform, and mental health support. We established four workstreams: O&M and asset management, consulting, C&I, and commercial practice. We confirmed the founding cohort is closed at 17 for this year. And we agreed that membership would launch free, because the barrier to entry should be competence, not cost.

The founding principles are simple enough to fit on a hard-hat sticker:

1. Competence over noise. Verified qualifications. Real site experience. No vanity titles.

2. Mental health is a technical issue. Tired engineers make unsafe decisions. We treat wellbeing as a safety system, not a soft topic.

3. Open the door to associates. This industry runs on more than electrons. Lawyers, brokers, recruiters, asset managers, you are in.

4. Pay it forward. Every founding member commits to mentoring, sharing, or contributing. Membership is not passive.

To our founding members: thank you. You took a punt on something with no track record because you believed the industry needed it. Your names are on this from day one and they will stay on it.

To everyone else: come and join us. Whether you are holding a multimeter or a contract, whether you have twenty years in or twenty weeks, there is a place here for you.

This is the industry's network. Run by us, for us.

Sign up here

Brett Baber Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of Thanos Renewables

Brett is a seasoned leader in utility-scale renewable energy with deep experience across solar, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and project delivery.