A Scottish hydropower firm has lured away a top executive from SSE to run the business.
Green Highland Renewables (GHR), which was recently acquired by a London infrastructure investment firm, has appointed Mark Mathieson as chief executive Officer. He will join the firm in August.
Mr Mathieson has spent over 25 years in various engineering and leadership roles within SSE, most recently spending nine years as the Managing Director of SSE’s Networks business.
GHR was acquired by Ancala Renewables, an infrastructure investment vehicle managed by Ancala Partners, in April 2015.
GHR, which has offices in Perth and Dingwall, has been developing run-of-river hydro schemes since 2007, gaining planning consent for more than 50 hydro schemes with approximately 40 megawatts (MW) capacity.
It is currently developing a £3million 750-kilowatt scheme at Allt Choire a Bhalachain on the south side of Loch Garry and a 465 kilowatt scheme on the Morvern peninsula which came on stream in February.
Mr Mathieson will take over from Richard Round who has led GHR as chief executive since 2014 and through the sale of the business to Ancala.
Mr Mathieson said: “This is an exciting time to be joining the business. Green Highland Renewables has around 25 projects totalling more than 20MW of capacity in operation or under construction.
“The company’s new shareholder, Ancala Renewables, has ambitious plans to further grow the business both through GHR’s pipeline of development projects as well as acquisitions. I look forward to working with GHR’s highly capable team to deliver this growth.”
GHR chairman and Ancala Partners Industry Partner, Duncan Whyte said:“Mark’s experience at the highest level of the energy and utility sector in the UK will help take the business to the next stage of its development. Mark, together with the rest of the team, will be instrumental in delivering the growth of the business.”
Mr Whyte added “I would like to thank outgoing CEO Richard Round on behalf of the entire board for his contribution to the business and wish him well on his choice to pursue other business interests.”