As the UK’s largest renewable energy exhibition, Solar & Storage Live 2025 brought together the entire energy value chain – from manufacturers and installers to investors and policymakers.
At the show, we sat down with John Behan, Co-Founder and CEO of AMPYR Distributed Energy (ADE). ADE is a rapidly expanding force in the C&I sector, dedicated to making the transition to net zero simple and cost-effective for businesses by providing fully funded, on-site solar and storage solutions.
In this interview, John discusses ADE’s mission to deliver green, reliable power and offers a crucial investor perspective on the distributed energy market.
“We’ve deployed primarily on-site solar, and the trend we’re really highlighting over this decade is the growth in co-located solar and storage behind the meter.”
What is AMPYR Distributed Energy (ADE)’s role in the sector?
John: At ADE, we’re on a mission to simplify net zero for business customers. But what does that mean? It means we deliver fully funded on-site renewables that provide green, reliable power at a lower cost exactly where it’s needed.
This allows our customers to focus on running their business while achieving their sustainability goals.
Tell us about the talk you did at Solar & Storage Live UK.
John: A lot of the talks at the show are typically around products, industry, and the market. I wanted to really focus on an investor perspective on distributed energy, so bringing a bit of a finance angle.
In the talk, we covered some background on the distributed energy market and why it’s growing so much. We had record rooftop deployment last year, and that’s going to continue, potentially reaching around a gigawatt per annum by the end of the decade.
Then I jumped into the investor perspective: why the market is gaining traction for investors like us, but also what the trends and some of the challenges are.
Why is sponsoring the C&I Theatre important for ADE?
John: When we sponsored the theatre last year, we were relative newcomers to the market; we were less than a year old. For us, that was about trying to get our initial foothold in the market.
Since that time, despite being a relative newcomer, we’ve expanded from 14 to 40 employees through acquisition, we’ve trebled our assets under management, and we’ve also expanded into Europe, into Germany.
In the last 12 months, we’ve had really solid growth, and we’re now positioning ourselves as one of the leaders in the C&I market.
What trends in the industry should solar stakeholders be aware of?
John: To date, we’ve deployed primarily on-site solar, and the trend we’re really highlighting over this decade is the growth in co-located solar and storage behind the meter.
Now, the investor side is still trying to get the business model right. Principally, we want to supply more on-site power to the customer via the battery, but ultimately, that doesn’t really utilise the battery in the right way.
You’ve got to really create a floor via contracted returns and then optimise the battery as it should, to capture all the additional revenue streams that are out there. You can typically share those revenue streams with a customer.
To summarise, what you really need is a combination of both: we need contracted returns from the battery, but we also need the upside to be able to unlock material deployment in the market.
That’s really our key trend, and going forward, we have an ambition to put storage alongside every solar asset that we install.
What is the importance of attending Solar & Storage Live UK for ADE?
John: I said the same last year: I think it is the biggest in the UK, certainly probably one of the biggest renewable conferences in Europe, and it is bigger again this year.
For us, Solar & Storage Live UK is really important as brand awareness is key for us. Lots of our partners and customers are here, and potential customers. It’s a chance for us to meet new and existing partners as well, and, as I’ve said previously, this is the best way to network.
At the show, you have short, sharp meetings back-to-back, and everyone’s in the same place. That’s why it’s so beneficial. Of course, attendees also have dinners on, we have socials; the whole team is here to have a bit of fun as well.
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