An On the wire story
Great British Energy and Barclays Climate Ventures have put almost £8.9 million into Naked Energy, a West Sussex-based company developing solar-thermal technology aimed at cutting business dependence on gas.
The deal, led by Great British Energy’s £7.5 million contribution through its Energy Engineered in the UK programme, marks the state-backed company’s first investment in solar thermal and is designed to support British manufacturing as well as deployment of the technology.
According to the announcement, the money will help Naked Energy establish a new UK production site for its Virtu system, with the company saying the project could create up to 40 direct skilled jobs and around 100 more in the wider supply chain.
Christophe Williams, the firm’s founder and chief executive, said the investment would allow it to build a major manufacturing base in Britain, lower production costs and scale a technology platform that combines solar collectors, system design and digital monitoring.
Naked Energy has been positioning itself as a specialist in decarbonising heat, an area that has become increasingly important as companies look for alternatives to gas without putting more strain on the electricity grid.
Its VirtuPVT collector produces both power and heat from a single unit, while its VirtuHOT system is designed to deliver solar heat at higher temperatures; the company’s technology is already being used at sites including the British Library and Wimbledon.
The business also told investors earlier this year that it was opening a £30 million Series B round to support international growth and manufacturing scale-up, underlining the wider commercial ambitions behind the latest funding.
Great British Energy chief executive Dan McGrail said the investment was part of a broader effort to reduce reliance on gas, which he described as central to both energy security and bill control. He pointed to Naked Energy’s installations at well-known UK institutions as evidence that solar thermal can move beyond niche use and into mainstream commercial deployment. Barclays Climate Ventures, already an investor in the company, joined the round as Naked Energy prepares for a larger expansion push in Britain and overseas.
Naked Energy’s VirtuPVT technology was named Product or Innovation of the Year in the 2021 CIBSE Building Performance Awards.
References
Main source: UK Tech News [1]
• This On the wire article was created using Noahwire AI and reviewed by CIBSE Journal’s editorial team
