Juliet Davenport, founder of Chippenham company Good Energy, has been made a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

The chief executive officer was presented with the accolade by the Queen at Windsor Castle in recognition of her services to renewable electricity supplies.

Mrs Davenport set up Good Energy in 2002. It now has 160 employees and supplies 30,000 homes and 2,000 businesses with electricity from renewable sources such as sunshine, wind, water and anaerobic digestion.

Mrs Davenport said: “Getting an OBE is a real honour but it wouldn’t have been possible without all the people involved with Good Energy over the years, including all of our customers and renewable generators.

“It’s a great time to be part of the renewables sector in the UK. Our innovative renewable energy community continues to go from strength to strength. Here at Good Energy we’re looking forward to bringing the benefits of that to more and more people, making renewables more mainstream.”

She admitted becoming a little emotional when meeting the Queen. She said: “She is a very remarkable woman. Seeing her in real life was quite overwhelming.”

She said the ceremony was choreographed and she was shown how to curtsey beforehand. Sitting just three seats away from her was Kate Bush, there to pick up a CBE.

Mrs Davenport, who went to St Mary’s School in Calne, lives between Cirencester and Stroud with her four-year-old daughter and husband, who also works in the renewable energy industry for Tidal Lagoon.

Good Energy reported revenue of £28.2m for the year up to December 31 2012 – an increase of almost a third (31 per cent) compared with £21.6m in the previous year.

It topped the Which? Customer satisfaction survey for electricity suppliers in 2010, 2012 and 2013.