Toddington Harper, Gridserve – 81

07/14/21 • 48 min

Toddington’s is a fascinating story, if you want to know about his childhood of TV powered by Solar in the deserts of Bahrain, or why he’s named after a service station, listen to our first conversation (episode 15- link below), but on this episode we focus on the concept of ‘Sun to wheel’, using solar power and batteries to power fast charging of electric vehicles through Electric Forecourts and Electric Highway hubs. The Gridserve story is a great one, enjoy the episode.About Toddington HarperToddington is a second-generation solar energy and energy storage professional, whose parents pioneered some of the world’s first commercial deployments of solar energy and battery storage systems more than 45 years ago. He has spent virtually his entire career focused on delivering sustainable energy solutions, including creating five successful sustainable energy and low carbon businesses which he has led as CEO over the last 19-years. Prior to establishing GRIDSERVE Sustainable Energy Ltd, Toddington was co-founder and CEO of BELECTRIC UK (2010 & 2011 solar world market leader), responsible for the development, construction and financing of c.350 MWp of utility scale solar farm & solar rooftop projects, including a 3.5MWp 20-acre solar rooftop project for Rolls-Royce.At BELECTRIC UK Toddington built a multi-award winning team that delivered a fully integrated development, construction, financing, operation, maintenance, asset management solar energy & energy storage business. The business was successfully sold to RWE Innogy (largest European utility) in December 2016.Toddington created GRIDSERVE to deliver sustainable energy and move the needle on climate change. GRIDSERVE’s first major success was winning the highest price battery storage enhanced frequency response contract with National Grid, where GRIDSERVE was awarded one of only seven successful contracts out of 208 tendered. Since then GRIDSERVE has grown from strength to strength. In 2019, against the odds of a year dominated by Brexit, GRIDSERVE pushed through, pioneering and delivering the UK’s largest and most technically advanced hybrid solar projects, and becoming the UK solar energy and technology market leader.About GRIDESERVEGRIDSERVE® is a tech-enabled international sustainable energy business, whose purpose is to #deliver sustainable energy and move the needle on climate change. We develop, build, own and operate ‘sun-to-wheel’ hybrid solar, energy storage,

About Hyperion Executive Search:
Hyperion are a specialist executive search firm working with some of the most innovative cleantech companies in the world, helping to find extraordinary talent to enable their growth and success. Partnering with leading cleantech VCs, as well as directly with founders and entrepreneurs in the sector. With our clients we are transforming business and growing a strong and prosperous cleantech economy.
If you want to grow your team, or move forward your career, visit www.hyperionsearch.com, or email [email protected]
Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe
I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the website, or Twitter.
If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidHsearch
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidhuntcleantech/

Also follow our podcast handles to stay up to date.
LinkedIn: ...

Previous Episode

Patrick Sheehan, ETF Partners – 80

What’s it all about?Money and People, the two main ingredients for a successful business (a damn good product/service is the other). More specifically it’s the RIGHT money and the RIGHT people. The right people is something we specialise in at Hyperion Executive Search, but I love to engage with passionate, experienced and mission driven VC’s and Investors who can provide money and so much more. The right money! Though Patrick expresses that all money is good! We talk about future trends, and how to get the money your start-up or scale-ups needs.About Patrick Sheehan: Patrick started the firm in 2006 to demonstrate that venture capital could foster innovation that provides prosperity that is sustainable for our planet. In that time ETF Partner has supported numerous innovative companies that create positive impact. Currently Patrick represents the firm on the Boards of ELeather, Wirepas, Telensa, Zeelo and Tomorrow.Patrick has worked in venture capital since 1985, when he joined 3i. He was instrumental in founding 3i's venture capital practice in the early 1990s and subsequently, in the late 1990s, was the founding Managing Director of its Silicon Valley operation.Prior to his career in venture capital, Patrick was a research engineer in electronics, working on fibre optic signal processing for GEC, and before that advising on advanced antenna designs as a technical consultant for Marconi Space Systems while completing a PhD in electronics.Patrick was a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Invest Europe from 2007 to 2010, during which time he also chaired the Venture Capital Committee.About ETF Partners:Since 2006, ETF Partner, has been investing in technologies companies that help tackling the climate emergency. Our Aim Demonstrating that technological innovation offers compelling answers to one of the most pressing problems of the world, achieving Sustainability Through Innovation.Social links: ETF Partners on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/environmental-technologies-fund---etfPatrick on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-sheehan-76182/ETF Partners website: https://etfpartners.capital/About Hyperion Executive Search:Hyperion are a specialist executive search firm working with some of the most innovative cleantech companies in the world, helping to find extraordinary talent to enable their growth and success. Partnering with leading cleantech VCs, as well as directly with founders and entrep

Next Episode

Ben Irons, Habitat Energy – 82

What’s it all about?Energy Storage!! More importantly optimising and commercialising grid scale energy storage assets. I first met Ben at a conference in London some years ago. He has since gone on to co-found one of the leading energy storage optimisation companies, recently expanding into Australia and the US. We have a dive into battery tech, long duration storage, entrepreneurship, and internationalisation. I hope you enjoy the episode.About Ben IronsBen is a co-founder of Habitat Energy, where he leads their international business development and partnership activities. Ben was previously an Executive Director and board member at Aurora Energy Research where he founded and then led their consulting practice for 4 years, and before that, Strategy Director at Centrica Energy, and energy and sustainability consultant and McKinsey & Company in London. Ben has a first-class honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from New Zealand, and an MPhil and DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford.About Habitat EnergyHabitat Energy was founded in 2017 to operate and manage battery storage assets and renewable energy. Habitat has independently developed a market leading trading platform based on algorithmic and machine learning techniques that can handle the intensive forecasting and computational demands of battery storage and market optimisation, complemented by a traditional trading team. Habitat’s system also incorporates deep insight into the physical capabilities and degradation of battery storage, offering a profit maximising rather than revenue maximising approach. Habitat was recently awarded the optimization contract for the world’s largest solar powered vanadium flow battery in Australia, and currently operates over 200 MWh of storage assets in the UK. Habitat’s platform is consistently ranked by independent third parties as the highest performing in the UK in terms of revenue per MW.Social links: Ben Irons on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-irons-a59359/ Habitat Energy Website: http://www.habitat.energy/ Habitat Energy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/habitat_energy About Hyperion Executive Search:Hyperion are a specialist executive search firm working with some of the most innovative cleantech companies in the world, helping to find extraordinary talent to enable their growth and success. Partnering with leading cleantech VCs, as well as directly with founders and entrepreneurs in the