Green energy group Ecotricity is to open a tech hub in Bristol to encourage start-ups and digital teams to help it develop next-generation products for the renewables sector.
Stroud-based Ecotricity, which was founded in 1995 by hippy-turned-eco-entrepreneur Dale Vince with just one windmill, said it was finalising discussions with an unnamed city-centre office space provider to launch the centre early in the new year.
The firm wants to attract top digital talent from Bristol to help transform its customer experience as well as working on new products to help people manage their carbon footprint and connected homes. 
Ecotricity has begun hiring for the office, beginning with a digital development lead and a team of full stack digital developers. The centre will bring together two of the city’s key, high-growth sectors – digital and low-carbon – and will open as Bristol continues to build a national reputation as a vibrant centre for both.
Ecotricity hopes to have up to 15 people at the hub – its first office in Bristol – by the end of next year.
It will be overseen by Ecotricity technology & transformation director Dan Goodall, who said: “We have great talent in our technology team in Stroud, but we’re creating a presence that will tap into the wider Bristol and West digital and tech ecosystem in the city and surrounding area.
“We’re keen to drive the green agenda in the future of the connected home and the connected city, and Bristol is at the forefront of our thinking.”
As one of the UK’s leading renewable energy firms, Ecotricity supplies more than 200,000 customers with green electricity and gas. It has also created and operates what it calls the Electric Highway – the country’s first national charging network for electric vehicles.
The electric vehicle market, along with connected – or smart – homes and green energy storage, are viewed as the key growth areas of the renewables market.
Ecotricity’s Bristol tech hub will bring it into the backyard of rival OVO Energy, which is based in the city. While OVO, unlike Ecotricity, does not generate its own energy, it too has moved into the tech end of the energy market.
In August it entered the fast-growing electric vehicle market by acquiring two specialist firms and forming a partnership with the UK’s largest provider of infrastructure to the sector.
Earlier this year it snapped up US firm VCharge, which has developed ground-breaking technology that makes transmitting renewable energy more reliable.
Ecotricity founder Dale Vince said: “It’s good for us to have a presence in different parts of the country. Bristol is a great place to be – it’s full of talented people and like-minded companies we can collaborate with. We’re very pleased to be moving in.”
Ecotricity also runs Forest Green Rovers, recently described by FIFA as the “world’s greenest football club”.
