Green electricity provider to create 1,000 new jobs in UK

Bloomberg

A UK clean energy company is seeking to create 1,000 jobs by the end of next year, expanding its technology to simplify the way consumers buy electricity.
Octopus Energy said it wants to make the UK the “Silicon Valley of energy” and detailed a plan to expand its cloud-computing platform, known as Kraken, which aims to make it easier and cheaper for people to use renewable energy.
The new jobs will go mainly to graduates and will help Octopus double its workforce by the end of 2021, according to a statement by the company. Positions will be spread across its sites in London, Brighton, Warwick and Leicester. It will also build a technology, data science and artificial intelligence center in Manchester, in the north of England. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is seeking to boost green jobs as a way to help the UK economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic, welcomed the company’s announcement.
“It’s UK tech companies like Octopus who will ensure we continue to build back greener and remain a world leader in pioneering renewable energy, leading the path to net zero whilst creating thousands of skilled jobs,” Johnson said.
CEO Greg Jackson said Octopus’s Kraken technology had the same potential as Apple’s App Store when it was first launched.
“Through Kraken, our cloud-based energy platform, we’re revolutionising the energy industry in the same way, creating jobs not just through increased demand for affordable renewables, but by facilitating the
development of new and emerging industries like electric vehicles, electric heating and vertical farming,” Jackson said.