admin, Author at News and Events

David Burns joins Solar 350 as Chairman

28 May 2015 admin 0

Solar 350 is delighted to announce David Burns' appointment as our new Chairman. Having been an early investor and independent director of the company in its initial stages, David is taking on the leadership of the board to oversee a critical phase in our expansion. His appointment is another step forwards for Solar 350’s plans for 2015/16, building a senior management team experienced in both developing and financing multiparty renewable energy projects. David is the right candidate to help us knit together our Chinese solar conglomerates, large infrastructure fund clients, equity/debt providers and local JV partners. His background in [...]

Peruvian Solar Development Partnership – Update

19 May 2015 admin 0

Following-on from last week’s announcement of our partnership with a major Peruvian engineering firm, we’re pleased to formally announce our new plans with Tecnicas Metalicas, headquartered in Lima. Founded in 1979, Tecnicas Metalicas is a heavy engineering firm with a long standing track record in metal (especially steel) fabrication, with both the delivery capacity and resources to make it a leading player in Peruvian infrastructure... and soon to extend their reach (with us) into Peruvian solar development. With a 52,802 sqm fabrication plant (and a processing capacity of 2,400 tons steel per month) they’re firmly established as a major player [...]

350 Signs New Peruvian Solar Development Partnership

12 May 2015 admin 0

After a successful trip to Lima earlier this year, we’re excited to announce we’ve partnered with a large Peruvian engineering firm ($100m turnover) to begin operations within Peru’s nascent solar energy industry. Our role is to take the backing of our partner’s enterprise-scale industrial build capacity and establish a local solar development company focused on small-scale solar parks facilitating rural electrification. Currently, there is significant Peruvian government support for these initiatives, high local electricity prices and geographically speaking, Peru receives the highest solar irradiation in the world (a function of global position, altitude and cloud cover). Therefore, we anticipate [...]

“Is it raining?” and other strange election result predictors…

6 May 2015 admin 0

In a break from our usual focus on carbon reduction and renewable energy investment, this week I’ve hijacked Renewable Money with a prediction about the UK general election tomorrow. You might not know that old hands from the politics circuit often used some very strange (but often accurate) election result predictors, and in a too-close-to-call election, they might actually work... When the polls & data won’t cut it: These days the polls are pretty good (the closer you get to the election) but in a neck and neck tie, the poll margin of error means they’re no help at all in [...]

Election Special: How to vote for lower carbon emissions?

29 April 2015 admin 0

As Britain is gripped by election fever it seems the issue of climate change and CO2 reduction has taken a back seat. But rising global CO2 emissions will have a significant impact on the nation’s future health and economic prosperity, so although the c-word isn’t high on the campaign agenda it remains a key underlying issue for the next government. More importantly, assuming the objective of a modern environmental policy should be (in part at least) to reduce carbon emissions, it should be pretty easy to work out which party has got the best offering… right? The story so far: As [...]

Solar 350 News: 2015 shaping up to be a huge year

24 April 2015 admin 0

Hot on the heels of bringing on our new CFO, Justin Passfield, Solar 350 can announce we’ve signed agreements with 3 major independent power producers, all of which are exchange-listed entities and of Chinese origin. Obviously we can’t say too much at this point, but we are pleased to confirm we have signed NDNCNS (that’s non-disclosure, non-circumvent, non-solicitation) agreements with a view to developing, building, financing and refinancing utility-scale solar energy projects in Chile and various prime solar locations round the globe. This news means we’re now able to action our Solar 350 staged development & value creation model: Stage 1 [...]

Justin Passfield joins 350 Team

21 April 2015 admin 0

We’re delighted to announce Justin Passfield has joined the team to take on the role of Chief Financial Officer. As 350 gears up for a busy 2015/2016 project programme, Justin’s experience and industry insights will prove invaluable as we continue to build on our clean energy development track record. Justin's role will be driving 350's financial engagement with utility-scale power generation projects, complex international deal structures and renewable energy initiatives for our clients. “Having known and worked with Nick over the last couple of years I am looking forward to joining the 350 team, and helping to realise the [...]

Living the good life: off-grid home tech… and pigs.

1 April 2015 admin 0

Last week we wrote about the emerging home battery scene, and how Nissan and Tesla have been developing interoperability between EVs and domestic home systems. A great way to go off-grid and devised (originally) by enterprising DIY energy geeks with a salvaged Nissan LEAF. But away from the big corporate spotlights on cutting edge tech, did you know some German energy companies are providing battery kits now? This started when the German Government reduced the Feed In Tariff it provides to domestic solar when dispatching electricity to Germany’s grid. And it tells us something about the chaos [...]

Solar 350 at the British Chinese Energy Association

30 March 2015 admin 0

Last week it was great to be a speaker at the British Chinese Energy Association event "Away from the coal face and towards the light - renewables from a practitioner's point of view" in London. In a packed day with great hospitality from the hosts (Smith & Williamson Financial Services in Moorgate) I enjoyed presenting to an audience of energy professionals and renewables tech experts, focusing on our Chilean project progress, experiences in the Chilean energy market and the wider opportunities presented by renewable power projects in South America. The BCEA is a non-profit organisation that connects [...]

Disrupting the grid: Nissan and Tesla EVs for home energy

25 March 2015 admin 0

Clean renewable home energy has an arch nemesis. It’s not (as some green narratives might suggest) powerful oil lobbies holding it back for the sake of profits though, it’s much more boring than that. The supervillain of clean energy is infrastructure: The electricity grids of the modern world are based on old fashioned technologies and ideas of how to ship electricity from power stations to your plug sockets at home. But over the last couple of years a bit of lateral thinking to solve the grid problem has emerged from a surprising area. It’s not from city electrical engineers, or solar [...]

Author: admin