North East firm Kinewell Energy appoints Tony Appleton
Tony Appleton, who played a key role in the USA’s offshore wind industry, has been appointed as the chief commercial officer of Kinewell Energy.
The former chair of Offshore Wind California and board member of Oceanic Network has spent 32 years helping firms rapidly scale in the offshore wind and international interconnector sectors.
He has been involved in more than 45 offshore wind projects worldwide, including 80 per cent of offshore wind farm projects in the US.
Mr Appleton said: “I am delighted to be taking on the role as chief commercial officer at Kinewell.
“Having worked in the US offshore wind sector for the best part of seven years, I have decided to return to the UK and refocus on the UK, European and global markets rather than just the US, and the opportunity to join Kinewell has enabled me to do this.
“With a background in offshore renewables and interconnectors, it’s a fantastic opportunity to help grow a company at the leading-edge of clean technology development.”
Kinewell Energy is a British cleantech scale-up that provides AI-powered Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to make the development of offshore wind farms and interconnectors easier and more cost-effective.
The company’s products have been procured by some of the biggest names in energy, including SSE Renewables, Equinor and Parkwind.
Mr Appleton added: “Kinewell’s innovative software solutions have already been deployed across the globe by some of the biggest names in energy, proving their commerciality and scalability.
“With the cost of developing wind farms rising from inflationary pressures, solutions like those developed by Kinewell are key to ensuring we can continue developing cost-effective wind farms the world-over.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time for everyone associated with the business.”
His appointment comes just a week after Kinewell was awarded a King’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade.
The King’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the UK.
The Award for International Trade recognises companies that have generated significant overseas sales with steep year-on-year growth, without dips, over a sustained three to six year period.
Dr Andrew Jenkins, founder and chief executive of Kinewell, said: “We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Tony as our new chief commercial officer.
“Over recent years the business has grown significantly, both at home and overseas and the fact that we have been able to persuade a world-class operator such as Tony to come home to take on the challenge of helping us further build on our previous successes demonstrates our potential to rapidly scale.
“We have every confidence that the wealth of knowledge and experience he will bring will better position us for success, both in terms of driving sales and growing our business internationally.
“I speak for everyone associated with Kinewell when I say how excited we are to see where the future takes us.”