People I Like

Ian Merchant, head of Scottish & Southern Energy, one of the UK's big five energy companies, is a person that I like.

Energy companies find themselves in a very interesting position right now. Utilities make money by selling energy to people, and obviously coal and natural gas have been their top sellers for a long time now. But in a world where sustainability is shifting things, including local/state/federal policy, energy providers walk a fine line.

Do they embrace renewable energy, make investments in research and development, update their infrastructure and roll it out to the public? This all comes at a short-term cost and requires these companies to break free of their own energy addictions (and all that comes along with that). And, as we've all seen before, it's easier to just keep making money the old way.

But if they don't change, we're all stuck with old infrastructure that can't handle the increased energy loads that renewable energy solutions put out. That means that you could make billions of KWs of clean energy, but have no way of putting it on the grid or giving it to people to buy. Then, we have no choice but the old way. Boo!

But SSE is a company that is investing in the future. They've either acquired or partnered with multiple renewable energy companies, especially in the wind category. He works with policy makers to ensure that funding is kept in place. He's honest, upfront, driven and unafraid.

If there were more Ian Merchants in more energy companies around the world, just imagine the kind of progress that would happen...

Here's a profile of Ian and SSE that will make you like him too...

http://business.scotsman.com/business/Ian-Marchant-interview-Power-behind.4697401.jp