Bioenergy Infrastructure Group announce senior appointments

Bioenergy Infrastructure Group (“BIG”) is pleased to announce two new senior appointments, Ben Williams as Head of Transactions and Helena Barrett as Head of Synergy.

Ben, who recently joined BIG, will lead the conversion of the company’s pipeline of opportunities to expand the asset platform. He also will support BIG’s ongoing funding activity, underpinning its commitment to be the leading owner-operator of UK bioenergy assets.

Ben was previously an Associate Director at Gravis Capital Management, the infrastructure investment firm. Prior to that, he was an Associate Director in Structured Finance at MUFG and Infrastructure Corporate Finance at KPMG.

Helena will lead on unlocking the intrinsic additional value from within BIG’s existing platform and to optimise these synergies as the platform expands. She joins from John Laing, the listed infrastructure investment fund company, where she served as Investment Manager, leading project development opportunities in the renewable energy sector across Europe.  Prior to John Laing, Helena was a Business Development Manager and Technical Advisor at Fichtner Consulting Engineers.

On these recent appointments, Neil Bennett, Chief Commercial Officer of BIG, commented:

“We are delighted to welcome Ben and Helena to our growing team of sector professionals. With their wealth of expertise and experience, they will provide welcome additional senior capacity and help us to drive forward our expansion plans.”

In the past year, BIG has raised a further £150m from investors for new UK biomass and waste to energy assets, enabling it to expand its existing portfolio and benefit from increased scale and diversification. It has also seen one of its largest assets, Ince Bio Power, become fully operational, joining BIG’s other operating waste wood biomass plants in Widnes, Derry and Birmingham. Other assets in BIG’s portfolio that are in the late stages of construction and development are located in Hull, Lanark in Scotland and Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire.