Bruno Prior

General

Name

Bruno Prior

Position

Director

Work experience

Bruno joined Summerleaze on graduating from university in 1987. He worked for three years for Summerleaze's subsidiary, Green Land Reclamation Ltd, which had recently opened Summerleaze's first landfill-gas power station at Wapseys Wood in Gerrards Cross. He then worked briefly for the parent company on planning and policy issues, before leaving the company and the country (working for a package tour operator in Europe, trying unsuccessfully to get the skiing and windsurfing bugs out of his system).

Returning to the UK four years later, he learnt to programme for the internet and started to develop an online travel information and booking system. A year later, recognizing that any potential rewards from this venture remained distant and uncertain, he rejoined the company. Summerleaze had, in the meantime, developed Wapseys Wood substantially, and the prospect of further power stations on sites operated by Onyx Waste Management (now Veolia Environmental), who by that time were the site operators at Gerrards Cross. Bruno was given the task of helping the business to progress in areas such as liaising with the landfill gas business's suppliers and clients, helping with the planning on new sites, and addressing government policy.

The landfill-gas business expanded first organically through development of new stations on Onyx sites, and then through the acquisition in 2000 of a rival - Thomas Graveson Ltd. The existing and acquired sites were merge into a new subsidiary - Summerleaze RE-Generation Ltd, and Bruno was made General Manager. The extensive combined portfolio of renewable-generation sites, which stood at around 30 MW in 2000, was expanded in the following years to nearly 50 MW by the end of 2006. In 2005 and 2006, RE-Gen generated over 300 GWh (300 million units of electricity), making it one of the largest independent renewable-energy generators in the UK. Bruno was made Managing Director of RE-Gen in 2005 and brought on to the board of the parent company.

In early 2007, RE-Gen was sold to Infinis Ltd, who were compiling the portfolios of various renewable generators to make the largest specialist renewable generation business in the UK. Bruno stayed with Summerleaze when RE-Gen transferred to Infinis. He is now helping the company with the development of new businesses in less mature aspects of the environment and energy sectors - particularly with investments such as Forever Fuels in the energy-from-biomass field - and also in a speculative venture to rescue the small Swiss ski resort of Ernergalen from closure (Summerleaze Mountains).

History

Member for

2 years 23 weeks