Standing next to an array of mirrors that are turning scorching sunshine into steam and electricity, Graham Ford forecasts a future for clean technology entrepreneurs that is as limitless as the Fenland sky above. “We are still at a very early stage in the development of clean technology,” he says. “Most of the businesses will fail. But scaleable solutions will also come to the fore that have not even been invented yet.”
It is by pure chance the Financial Times is visiting Mr Ford’s company Heliodynamics on one of those rare British summer days unpunctuated by sheeting rain. Our more normal lousy weather might make his claims appear hyperbolic. However, the proof of Heliodynamics’ commercial concept is that Mr Ford and his co-founders recently sold the business to Energymixx for £5m. The Swiss company plans to market mirror arrays designed near Cambridge to industrial clients in sunny Italy.
