Former UK Energy Minister appointed Chair of AVK as Partners Group investment completes
Posted by: electime 4th November 2026
AVK, one of the largest and fastest-growing suppliers of innovative power solutions for data centres and AI infrastructure in the UK and Europe, today announced the appointment of Claire Perry O’Neill as Chair of the Board. The appointment follows the completion of the majority investment from Partners Group, a leading global private markets firm, acting on behalf of its clients, first announced in August 2026, which included an initial investment of over USD 1 billion to fund AVK’s next phase of growth.
Claire brings more than three decades of experience spanning finance, business and government to her new role. She began her career at Bank of America and, after completing an MBA at Harvard Business School, held roles at McKinsey & Company and Credit Suisse First Boston before being elected Member of Parliament for Devizes in 2010. She subsequently held several ministerial positions, including Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth, where she drove pragmatic decarbonisation action nationally and internationally, led the UK’s successful bid to host COP26 and served as its first President-Designate.
Since leaving government, Claire has held senior leadership positions including Managing Director at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Board Director of Scottish Power. She currently serves as an Operating Director at Gren Group, Non-Executive Director of Occidental Petroleum and SGX Group, and Board Chair of Climate Impact X. She is also a Global Advisor to McKinsey & Company and Climate Investments.
As Board Chair, Claire will work closely with Chief Executive Officer Ben Pritchard, the Board and the leadership team as AVK enters its next chapter. Her experience in energy policy and financial markets will support AVK as it scales – including AVK Capital, the company’s funding entity that finances, owns and operates on-site power systems for data centre developers. Through AVK’s Energy as a Service (EaaS) model, customers pay for their power through a power purchase agreement (PPA), with no upfront capital expenditure and no need to own the asset.
Access to power has become the biggest constraint on data centre and AI infrastructure growth across the UK and Europe, with new grid connections in some markets taking years to secure. AVK’s speed to power approach brings capacity online sooner through on-site generation, backed by a team of more than 400 people across ten hubs in the UK and Europe, its modular manufacturing facility in Haydock and a EaaS pipeline of over 2GW.
Commenting on her appointment, Claire said: “I’m delighted to join AVK as Chair at such an important moment. The completion of Partners Group’s investment gives AVK the backing to grow faster, and the timing could not be better. Grid capacity has become one of the biggest barriers to economic growth and the energy transition in the UK and Europe and all of my previous experience suggests that no matter how ambitious the policies, grid expansion faces real constraints. On-site, flexible power generation has a real role to play as the UK Government’s new Data Centre Covenant makes clear, and AVK has the expertise and ambition to deliver this capability. My priority is to help AVK’s team turn that potential into growth, working closely with Partners Group to scale AVK Capital and bring speed to power to more customers.”
Ben Pritchard, Chief Executive Officer, AVK, said: “Claire’s appointment is an exciting moment for everyone at AVK. She has shaped energy policy at the highest level, led the UK’s early work on COP26 and advised some of the world’s largest businesses on the energy transition. With Partners Group’s investment now complete, we have the capital to deliver speed to power at scale. Claire’s understanding of how policy, investment and infrastructure fit together will be invaluable as we grow AVK Capital and help our customers bring new capacity online faster.”
Nicholas Pepper, Managing Director, Partners Group; Member of the Board, AVK, said: “AVK is well-positioned to address the data centre industry’s critical power needs. Claire joins us at a pivotal time and her industry experience and track record will be highly valuable as we look to scale AVK. We see a really exciting growth opportunity and will work with the board and the wider management team in executing across our value creation plan. The closing of our majority investment in AVK marks the start of this journey together.”
Earlier this year AVK energised Europe’s first large-scale data centre microgrid at PureDC in Dublin, an energy-constrained region. For more information on AVK’s offering visit the website.
