Dreamers and Innovators: A brighter world of clean energy

I find clean energy innovation exciting. Watching this purpose driven, sustainable sector grow and importantly, prove profitable - fills me with hope for the future. BMR, one of our biggest non-branded investments at Virgin, is a brilliant company and a true innovator in the field and is bringing renewable energy to the Caribbean and Latin America. Its projects include everything from a green solar project in Guatemala, to a wind project in Jamaica, a solar restoration project in St. Croix, and a solar farm in the Cayman Islands. BMR has also just announced an exciting new project in St. Thomas which will rebuild a hurricane damanaged solar farm. As part of my Dreamers and Innovators series, I reached out to Bruce Levy as the CEO of BMR to discover what it takes to shake up such a large and entrenched industry, why clean energy is so important, what challenges lie in the way, and what is the future of the industry.

Bruce shared a wealth of insight from a career dedicated to energy, and a personal passion for renewables. As I mentioned to Bruce, what I love most about clean energy is that it gives power back to the people by making the most of local and natural resources in an accessible, sustainable, resilient and cost-effective way. When it comes to finding the energy within ourselves to take on problems like climate change, Bruce stressed the importance of thinking in small steps so you don't become overwhelmed by the size of the problem. On a company level, if you aim toward incremental change, you'll be able to remain agile and keep up with technology which is rapidly evolving in the field of renewable energy.

From BMR's work in the Caribbean, the company is mapping out a blueprint (or should I say greenprint!) for the way we can produce clean energy all around the world. This is innovation at its finest! As more companies and investors realise the huge benefits to people, planet and profit that comes from investing in renewables, I'm excited to see what this leads to in the next decade.

I'm also so proud of Virgin for investing in purpose-driven, people-focused, and planet-first companies like BMR. It is a company that Dad and I are both really passionate about and excited to be partnering with. You can find more inspiration from some of the other dreamers and innovators I've interviewed below.