Penrose's quantum consciousness is not a hypothesis. It is his conclusion - he holds it as a belief. And he does so without sufficient data.

The essence of skepticism is to neither accept nor reject an assertion without sufficient evidence to do justify doing so. Penrose has not speculated, he has concluded, and that is why he fails - because he has left scientific skepticism behind to embrace a belief system.

There is a profound difference between saying that a thing is possible, that it is likely, and that it is true. Your error is in saying that which is not likely ought not to be regarded as possible; Penrose's error is in forgetting that being unable to rule something out as impossible does not permit us to say that it is true.