Kite Power Systems – the Scotland-based company developing kite power generation technology and the only company in the UK active in the high-altitude wind power sector – has appointed Simon Heyes as Chief Executive and Dr Andrew Tyler CBE as non-executive chairman.
Simon Heyes joins from Infinis Energy Holdings, where he was wind energy development and construction director. A Chartered Mechanical Engineer with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, he worked at Infinis Energy for seven years after holding senior positions at Scottish Hydro-Electric and GEC Alstom.
His early career was in the aviation sector – working for Rolls-Royce on their civil aircraft engines, before joining the RAF full time as an Engineer Officer.
He will work closely with KPS’s new Chairman, Dr Andrew Tyler, who is also chief executive of defence company Northrop Grumman Europe and who has been an advisor to Kite Power over the past two years. Tyler is also a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
In addition, Dr Sian George, a former chief executive of Ocean Energy Europe, will be joining Kite Power as a non-executive Director.
Kite Power currently employs 24 people at its operations in Glasgow and West Freugh in Dumfries-shire.
Heyes said: “We intend to start testing our 500kW system this year, and within 3-5 years we hope to deploy our first 3MW onshore and offshore kite systems. Our testing of our 40kW system is ongoing, and achieving performance above our expectations”.
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