Twenty years of contributing to a cleaner planet

  • Posted: 20 Jun 2015

20th anniversaries for businesses are always an exciting celebration, and for us it is no exception. That’s why we chose to pull out all the stops at our 20th AGM with a birthday party for our community of investors.

Taking place Bristol’s M Shed museum on Friday 19th June, our AGM was our biggest and best ever with over 50 shareholders joining the board and the management team for an afternoon of review, insight and birthday cake. It fittingly while the Bristol is European Green Capital, making this the ideal year for celebration.

Investors came from far and wide to learn more about our performance over the past year, and were treated to lunch alongside a number of presentations. The birthday theme was aptly embodied by a homemade two-tier birthday cake, complete with its own icing version of a wind farm.

One of the shareholders attending the AGM was an original Triodos Renewables investor. Christopher Watson, from Exeter, made his initial investment in 1995. Commenting on the company’s anniversary, Christopher said, "From the outset, the return on investment is multiple; not only do I receive financial payback, I also get an ethical return knowing that my money is doing good. I enjoy being part of a community of like-minded committed people.’

The AGM comes as part of a number of events for both Triodos Renewables and Triodos Bank. We hosted an open day at its Avonmouth wind farm on Saturday 6th June for families to learn more about wind power, and the Triodos Bank annual meeting took place the day after the AGM, with a Green Capital theme.

The AGM was closed by Dr Andrew Garrad who is one of the most influential figures in the wind power industry. Regarded as the ‘Godfather’ of wind technology innovation, and chair of Bristol 2015, he spoke about his consultancy firm Garrad Hassan, giving investors a whistle-stop tour of the wind power industry through the ages, and he also explained what Bristol 2015 hopes to achieve over the year.

Matthew Clayton, Executive Director, said: "This is a great time for the company, with our community of shareholders and renewable generation having grown by 16% and 18% respectively in the past year. We wanted to make this AGM a special celebration not only of our 20th anniversary, but also of our investors, whose trust and support allows us to deliver a growing contribution to cleaning up the UK’s energy system.’

Guests enjoyed a delicious 20th birthday cake decorated with bespoke icing figures of the management team and some of our projects!
Dr Andrew Garrad, chair of the Bristol 2015 European Green Capital organisation and "Godfather" of the wind industry, provided external perspective as our guest speaker.