Former Crossrail London Olympic director takes on role with Gravitricity to advise board

Civil engineering heavyweight Simon Wright OBE has played a role with energy storage firm Gravitricity as an independent adviser to the board as the company pushes forward its commercialization plans.

Gravitricity specializes in gravity energy storage and last summer successfully commissioned and tested its grid-connected 250kW demonstrator in Edinburgh.

This year, Edinburgh innovators have won a £912,000 BEIS grant to design a purpose-built multi-weight energy store in the UK, and the company is also advancing plans for an energy storage project. scale energy at a recently closed coal mine on the mainland. Europe is assembling a pipeline of projects around the world.

Wright brings over 40 years of experience in designing, building and managing programs with roles such as Managing Director of Crossrail and Director of Infrastructure and Utilities at the Olympic Delivery Authority for the Olympics and London 2012 Paralympics.

He is currently an Independent Member of the Sponsoring Committee for the Restoration and Renewal of the Houses of Parliament and an Independent Design Committee Member for High Speed ​​2.

Speaking on his appointment, Simon said:

“Energy storage is an essential part of greening our energy systems and I am drawn to Gravitricity for their simple concept that avoids the complexity of mining lithium and other rare metals.

“As a civil engineer, I’m particularly interested in the opportunities and challenges of delivering purpose-built wells where needed. I think building gravity-fed energy storage with good Proximity to generators, demand and the grid will be an essential part of Gravitricity’s portfolio.”

Wright is Gravitricity’s latest senior adviser and joins Good Energy founder Juliet Davenport OBE, who was appointed last year.

Gravitricity Chief Commercial Officer Robin Lane said:

“Simon brings considerable experience and expertise both in civil engineering and in managing complex large-scale infrastructure programs.

“Gravity is now recognized as one of the leading technologies in the global gravity storage market and his understanding of safe and efficient delivery will be invaluable as we develop projects and seek major partners and backers who will can participate in our deployment and take some of the risk.

“He is an extremely welcome addition as an advisor to our senior team,” concludes Lane.

Simon is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and was awarded an OBE in 2012 for his services to the construction industry.