Member Event: Riding the Waves with Mark Shorrock

Entrepreneurs are motivated to start businesses for all sorts of reasons but Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones wanting to do a movie you own has to be one of the more unusual drivers.

Former film producer and the founder of Ultimate Pictures, Mark Shorrockwasn’t excited by the prospect of working with the Hollywood stars – and it was then he realisedhe should turn his interest in the portrayal of climate change in books and on screen into a business.

Mark founded his first business, a wind farm development company, Wind Energy Ltd, in 2002. Four years later he identified a gap in the market for an investment fund to support solutions to climate change with ethics and conscience at its heart. The Low Carbon Accelerator fund was a £44.5m AIM listed venture capital fund, managed by Low Carbon Investors, and invested in new businesses involved in clean energy production, cleaner fuel technology, energy efficiency and new building technology.

The Low Carbon Group followed in 2010 and among its developments was the largest community owned renewable energy project in the UK, Westmillsolar park, in Wiltshire.

Last year Mark established Cheltenham-based Shire Oak Energy, which is dedicated to developing and supporting large-scale renewable energy projects in the UK and beyond across tidal, hydro, solar and wind power.

His latest exciting initiative is Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay, which aims to capitaliseon the Severn Estuary having the second highest tidal range in the world. Mark believes it offers significant potential for the extraction of long-term, low cost renewable energy through the construction of tidal lagoons, thereby helping the transition to a low carbon future and giving the UK greater energy security.

With an intriguing past to share as well as an eye that’s always on the future, Mark’s is a story about indulging personal passions for the greater good.