Co-founder of collapsed energy firm Bulb hopes to expand battery business
The co-founder of collapsed energy supplier Bulb is planning to expand his loss-making battery storage venture into Europe as the energy crisis escalates.
Amit Gudka hopes to develop Field Energy, the business he set up after leaving Bulb in February 2021, on the continent as countries attempt to switch toward renewable power.
Field Energy finances, builds and operates battery storage sites in the UK, pumping renewable power into the grid. Battery storage systems charge up when there is high supply and low demand and release power back to the grid during peak periods.
Gudka told the Guardian that the fledgling company had hired its first employee in Italy, where it has begun scouting for sites. He said: “We’re identifying sites. The expectation is that there’s going to be demand in the north – and a lot of renewables are being built in the south – so a good place for storage in quite a long grid will be the centre of the country.”
The energy executive said the company was also interested in operating in Germany in future. “It is a large market with a huge amount of renewables and also has had a huge dependence on Russian gas so obviously there’s a need there, not just for decarbonisation but for energy security and renewables storage.”
Field has a relatively small footprint in the UK, where it has four battery storage facilities, including a site in Newport acquired for £1m earlier this year.
Its first site, in Oldham in Lancashire, will become operational in the next few weeks, earning the company revenues for the first time.
Field, which is registered as Virmati Energy, and backed by high-profile investors, posted a pre-tax loss of £2.65m in the 15 months to 31 March 2022, in its first financial statements since it was set up
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