Former Tesla VP joins UK’s Solo Energy in ‘cutting edge’ virtual power plant push

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
Ben Hill has held positions at BP, Trina Solar and Tesla.

Tesla’s former EMEA vice-present has taken on an advisory role for Solo Energy as the company seeks to build out its vision of a virtual power plant (VPP) driven by residential and commercial battery systems.

Ben Hill has been appointed as commercial and technical advisor to the company, which is preparing to launch an offer to install domestic batteries and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) electric vehicle chargers in homes and businesses.

The capacity offered by these technologies is then combined into a VPP via Solo’s FlexiGrid cloud platform to provide system flexibility.

The company also has plans to investigate the use of peer-to-peer trading to allow energy trades between those included in the ‘community’ using blockchain technology, charging ‘micro-fees’ on transactions once the regulatory framework is in place to allow for such revenue streams.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Hill was responsible for founding and running Tesla Energy across EMEA from November 2015 until October last year, having joined by Trina Solar where we held the position of president of the company’s EU and African business.

Mark Hamilton, chief executive and co-founder of Solo Energy, said: “We are delighted that Ben has agreed to be a part of Solo Energy’s journey. Our company goal is to lay the building blocks for a 100% renewable world, and Ben’s experience encompassing both energy and battery technology will be invaluable in achieving this goal.”

Commenting on his appointed, Hill said: “I’m incredibly excited to be working with Solo Energy. The team have a strong vision for the future, and its peer to peer trading concept using the latest blockchain technology is cutting edge.

“In helping Solo Energy bring its business model to reality, I’m fulfilling my own ambitions to push forward the sustainable and renewable energy revolution. By making reliable low carbon, low cost, sustainable energy accessible to homes across the UK and Europe, we believe we will change the face of energy generation forever.”

Solo Energy recently completed a pilot in Orkney that saw solar and storage systems deployed on 30 properties to boost self-consumption and overcome grid constraints. Following its success, the company plans to roll out its full offer, including V2G technologies, in the first half of 2019. Solo Energy said the success of that Orkney pilot could mean the roll out could involve offering customers ‘no money down’ deals on equipment and solar-plus-storage solutions.

Elsewhere in both the UK and various international markets, the VPP concept is beginning to gain traction. This week we reported on Australian utility major Origin Energy’s first VPP plan, while the latest edition of PV Tech Power from our publisher Solar Media includes an in-depth look at VPPs, with three case studies on recent projects in Britain.

Read Next

October 6, 2025
Nightpeak Energy has announced commercial operations of its 150MW/300MWh Bocanova Power battery energy storage system (BESS) in Brazoria County, Texas, US.
October 6, 2025
Asset manager AIP Management has bought a 49% stake in a 2.4GWh UK portfolio from global BESS investment platform BW ESS for a deal in excess of £650 million (US$873 million).
Premium
October 1, 2025
Local authorities approved 1,237MW/2,474MWh of grid-scale BESS in the UK, the latest data from our monthly roundup shows.
September 24, 2025
Just over 70% of the successful projects in the first window of the UK’s long-duration energy storage (LDES) scheme are using lithium-ion BESS technology.
September 22, 2025
The capacity of virtual power plants in North America has reached 37.5GW, a 13.7% year-on-year growth, according to Wood Mackenzie.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter