Clean Energy Capital (CEC) has officially rebranded as Xela Energy, marking a strategic shift for the London-based company as it evolves from a renewables start-up into one of the UK’s leading providers of private wire energy infrastructure.

Founded in 2019, the company initially focused on early-stage development of renewable energy projects. Following a period of rapid growth, Xela Energy now designs, builds, and manages clean energy assets that supply electricity directly to high-demand industrial and commercial users — including data centres, pharmaceutical operations, and advanced manufacturing sites.

At the core of Xela’s model is the concept of private wire generation, where renewable energy infrastructure is built adjacent to, or on the premises of the end user, bypassing the public grid entirely. This direct-to-consumer model allows for greater price certainty, lower transmission losses, and significantly enhanced sustainability performance — all increasingly critical concerns amid the UK’s ongoing energy challenges.

“The rebrand marks a natural next step in our evolution,” said Alexander Goodall, founder and CEO of Xela Energy. “We’ve gone from a four-person team working on feasibility studies to a 20-strong organisation delivering operational renewable infrastructure at scale.”

The rebrand comes as Britain’s industrial electricity users continue to grapple with some of the highest power prices in Europe, driven by grid congestion, supply constraints, and global energy market volatility.

Government data shows that since 2021, energy-intensive industries in the UK have cut output by nearly a third, prompting calls for alternative energy procurement strategies.

Xela Energy sees private wire projects as a critical part of that solution. Unlike traditional utility-scale generation — which relies on capacity-constrained public transmission networks — private wire systems are co-located with the facilities they serve.

These installations are funded and operated by Xela under long-term Renewable Energy Service Agreements (RESAs), allowing customers to lock in energy pricing for 15 years or more without capital expenditure.

“For many industrial customers, the capital required to develop their own renewable supply is prohibitive,” Goodall said. “We’re able to deliver fully funded, off-balance-sheet solutions that provide energy certainty and decarbonisation in one.”

One such project is currently underway near IBM’s Hursley research campus in Hampshire, where Xela Energy is developing a 5 megawatt (MW) solar facility — set to become the UK’s first major data centre powered entirely by a private wire renewable connection.

Once operational, the site is expected to generate nearly five million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, offsetting approximately 46,000 tonnes of CO₂ over its lifetime — equivalent to removing almost 600 cars from UK roads.

The installation will also serve neighbouring local businesses and community facilities, providing additional benefits beyond its primary commercial purpose.

Xela’s broader project pipeline includes multiple developments across southern and central England, with a focus on locations where electricity demand is high and access to the public grid is constrained. The company’s expansion comes amid growing interest in long-term, site-specific renewable solutions from sectors including data hosting, life sciences, defence, logistics, and hydrogen.

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