CEO & Co-founder Newheat

Hugues Defréville is a French engineer and entrepreneur specialist in renewable energy production. After participating in the creation and development of Neoen, which has become one of the main independent producers of renewable electricity in Europe (solar photovoltaic, wind power), he became interested in the heating sector decarbonization challenges, being the main source of energy consumption in the world and still dependent on fossil fuels for more than 80%. Aware of the need to provide new solutions, in 2015 he co-founded Newheat, of which he is currently Chairman, with the ambition of becoming a leader in solar heat supply as well as a bold and innovative player in the energy transition.

Newheat is a French renewable heat provider for large heat consumers. Based on a Design, Build, Finance, and Operate business model, it is offering Heat-as-a-Service for large-scale industrial customers and district heating networks. Newheat combines solar thermal, heat pumps, waste heat recovery, and storage technologies to deliver decarbonized heat solutions that are local, sustainable, and competitive over the long term. Based in Bordeaux, Newheat has a portfolio of 40 MW solar thermal plants under operation in France and plans to build more than 400 MW in the next 5 years in Europe.

He was appointed Solar Heat Europe Director in June 2023, representing the category of Service Providers.