“I call it the Cinderella of solar”
This week on Profit Meets Purpose, Daisy Moll sits down with Christophe Williams, Founder and CEO of Naked Energy, to explore why solar thermal is the forgotten Cinderella in the clean energy story…
Williams doesn’t come from the typical engineering mould. Before launching his clean tech venture, he led award-winning ad campaigns for Sony, Microsoft and BMW — even earning a Guinness World Record for a Toshiba commercial. But a chance conversation in 2009 opened his eyes to “the big heat problem” the fact that half the world’s energy goes into producing heat and led to the creation of Naked Energy.
Today, Naked Energy is redefining solar with Virtu, a hybrid technology that combines photovoltaic and thermal technology to generate both electricity and heat, delivering up to four times the carbon savings of standard panels. With 24 patents, TÜV certification, and £30 million raised, the company has already completed more than 150 projects across 10 countries, from luxury hotels to the British Library and even Wimbledon.
But scaling clean tech isn’t just about engineering. Williams talks candidly about navigating the “valley of death” between innovation and mass adoption and why education, policy, and patient capital are key to unlocking solar heat’s potential.
He also shares how Naked Energy’s new software platforms, Clarity 24/7 and Clarity 360, are turning data into design, slashing project timelines and helping organisations that, as he puts it, “want to decarbonise but don’t know where to start.”
From the challenges of grid electrification to the opportunities of heat decarbonisation, this episode dives into what it takes to scale climate innovation and why Williams believes solar thermal is finally ready for its moment in the sun.
Website: www.sustainabletimes.co.uk
Naked Energy: https://nakedenergy.com/
Contact: daisy.moll@sustainabletimes.co.uk