Great British Energy makes its first major solar investment, backing British solar-thermal innovator Naked Energy to scale UK manufacturing and accelerate heat decarbonisation
- The £8.875 million investment, led by Great British Energy and made alongside Barclays Climate Ventures, will fund a new UK automated manufacturing facility for Naked Energy’s Virtu solar-thermal and PVT technology, creating up to 40 direct skilled jobs and around 100 indirect roles
- The investment backs a British-designed renewable heat platform that can reduce gas demand in commercial and industrial buildings, strengthen domestic supply chains and create export opportunities from the UK
Great British Energy and Barclays Climate Ventures have today [Thursday 6 August] announced a combined £8.875 million investment in Naked Energy, a British renewable-heat technology company, closing their £27m Series B financing.
Naked Energy’s solar thermal technology is already cutting bills and reducing gas at some of the UK’s most recognised commercial and public-sector sites, including the British Library and the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon.
The funding round is led by Great British Energy, which is investing £7.5 million through its Energy Engineered in the UK programme, with Barclays Climate Ventures participating as an existing shareholder. The investment will support Naked Energy’s plans to establish a new UK-based automated manufacturing facility, bringing production in-house, reducing unit costs and supporting the next phase of commercial scale-up. The facility will create up to 40 direct skilled manufacturing jobs and around 100 indirect roles.
Great British Energy and Naked Energy also intend to explore how Virtu could be deployed across suitable public-sector buildings, including potential financing models that would enable organisations to adopt renewable heat without bearing the full upfront capital cost.
Heat decarbonisation remains one of the most technically and commercially challenging components of the UK’s net zero commitments. Industrial and commercial heat accounts for a significant share of the UK’s remaining fossil fuel dependency, and in many buildings and processes, gas continues to be used for hot water, space heating and process heat at temperatures that alternatives such as heat pumps cannot always efficiently serve. Naked Energy’s Virtu technology addresses this gap by generating renewable heat directly at the point of use, displacing gas demand without adding electrical load to constrained grid connections and providing operators with a more stable, predictable alternative to volatile fossil fuel pricing.
Dan McGrail, CEO of Great British Energy, said:
“Cutting our reliance on gas is one of the biggest challenges we face, both for energy security and for keeping bills down. Naked Energy has developed a technology that tackles this head on and when you see it working at iconic UK institutions like the British Library and Wimbledon, you understand what is possible.
“At Great British Energy we are backing UK innovators like Naked Energy and helping to create skilled jobs. Through our Energy Engineered in the UK programme we are helping them to manufacture here at home and go further, faster.”
The location of the UK manufacturing facility is still to be determined but when operational, will reduce Naked Energy’s production costs and support its continued growth in domestic and international markets.
Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said: “Homegrown, clean power is an opportunity to reindustrialise Britain as we’re backing UK supply chains to help deliver the energy transition.
“Great British Energy is supporting well-paid manufacturing jobs for communities, while providing cheaper and secure energy for households and businesses.”
Daniel Hanna, Group Head of Sustainable and Transition Finance, Barclays, said:
“Since our first investment in Naked Energy four years ago, we have worked closely with the business as it has grown, connecting them to our network of partners and clients, leading to the installation of their technology at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
“Our latest investment will help Naked Energy scale UK manufacturing, create skilled jobs and bring renewable heat to buildings across Britain. It shows how public and private capital can work together to strengthen UK energy security and grow a domestic renewable energy industry.”
Naked Energy’s proprietary Virtu product range includes high-density solar thermal systems capable of generating renewable heat up to 120 degrees Celsius and hybrid solar PVT systems that generate both heat and electricity from the same rooftop footprint. The company holds more than 20 patents and is the first manufacturer of an evacuated hybrid solar PVT collector to receive TÜV Rheinland certification, providing independent third-party verification of the technology’s performance and efficacy.
Its unique, low-profile design allows for around 85% of roof space to be used for energy generation, compared to a typical rate of 50% for conventional titled solar panels that require spacing between rows to avoid self-shading.
This means more energy can be generated from the same space, making it especially useful in cities and on commercial buildings with limited roof space.
Virtu was the only solar energy technology to receive planning permission at the British Library — a Grade I listed building — precisely because its low-profile design does not alter the building’s roofline or silhouette, a significant commercial differentiator for deployments at listed and heritage sites.
Christophe Williams FEI, Founder and CEO of Naked Energy, said: “The UK has world-class engineering capability and the opportunity to lead a rapidly growing global market for renewable heat. Great British Energy’s investment will enable us to establish a major UK manufacturing base, reduce production costs and scale a British-designed technology platform that combines advanced solar collectors, system design and digital monitoring.
“Heat is too often overlooked in the energy debate, despite accounting for a major share of fossil-fuel consumption. This investment will help us bring renewable heat to more hospitals, hotels, public buildings and industrial sites in the UK and internationally, while creating skilled jobs and export opportunities here at home.”
Beyond its core hardware, Naked Energy is developing a wider renewable-heat platform, including digital tools for system design, performance monitoring and Heat-as-a-Service solutions. This enables customers and partners to design, deploy, operate and verify renewable heat systems more efficiently, supporting faster adoption across commercial, industrial and public-sector buildings. When paired with heat pumps and other low-carbon heating technologies, Virtu can improve overall system efficiency and support hybrid renewable heat generation without placing additional demand on grid connections — an increasingly important consideration for sites with constrained capacity.
Naked Energy is already delivering projects across Europe and North America. Barclays Climate Ventures first invested in the company in July 2022 and made a follow-up investment in July 2024, supporting the company’s global expansion.
Naked Energy has also participated in Barclays’ Unreasonable Impact programme, and Barclays has helped bring the technology into real-world deployments, including installations at Barclays’ Cambridge Eagle Lab and the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
The company has also secured backing from E.ON’s Energy Infrastructure Solutions, one of Europe’s largest energy companies.
The Great British Energy and Barclays joint investment marks a major scale-up phase, enabling Naked Energy to expand its UK production capacity and strengthen commercial pathways for both domestic and international markets.
This is Great British Energy’s first solar supply chain investment and signals its continued commitment to deploying public capital behind British SMEs developing the technologies needed to address some of the hardest challenges of the energy transition.
