Salvesen, a leading figure in the UK’s seafood industry who has directorships in a number of businesses, now owns 23.01 per cent of the cleantech firm, up from 22.39 per cent.

Salvesen, who through his family’s holding also retains a major shareholding in Aggreko (LON:AGK), the quoted Glasgow plant hire group, was appointed to the board last week 

New chief operating officer, William Ingram Hill, 35, also bought recently 250,000 shares in the company for 11.5p each.

Helius is developing biomass-fired renewable electricity  generation plants at sizes ranging from around seven megawatts to 100MW.

The firm is involved in several projects and its long-term aim is to be an owner/operator of 500MW worth of power plant assets.

The group is focused on a 100MW Avonmouth biomass plant, located on the Bristol Channel; a 7.2MW project in Scotland with the Combination of Rothes Distillers (CoRDe); and another 100MW biomass plant proposed for Southampton.

Helius also developed the 65MW net capacity Stallingborough biomass plant, located on the south side of the Humber estuary in Lincolnshire.

Helius Alpha, a subsidiary that owned the rights to develop and operate the plant, was then sold in its entirety to RWE Innogy.

In early October, Helius raised £6.6 million in a placing priced at 16p pence per share.

Biomass power plant builder Helius Energy (LON:HEGY) announced today that its chief operating officer, William Ingram Hill, yesterday bought 250,000 shares in the company for 11.5 pence each.

The news comes after Helius earlier this week reported that Ingram Hill had joined the board as chief operating officer while key investor Alastair Salvesen had been appointed as a non-executive director. Salvesen, a leading figure in the UK’s seafood industry who has directorships in a number of businesses, himself recently upped his stake in Helius from below five per cent to more than one-fifth of the company.

Helius is a developer of biomass-fired renewable electricity generation plants at sizes ranging from around seven megawatts to 100MW. The firm is involved in several projects and its long-term aim is to be an owner/operator of 500MW worth of power plant assets.

Currently, Helius is focused on: the forthcoming 100MW Avonmouth biomass plant, located on the Bristol Channel; a 7.2MW project in Scotland with the Combination of Rothes Distillers (CoRDe); and another 100MW biomass plant proposed for Southampton.

Helius also developed the 65MW net capacity Stallingborough biomass plant, located on the south side of the Humber estuary in Lincolnshire. Helius Alpha, a subsidiary that owned the rights to develop and operate the plant, was then sold in its entirety to RWE Innogy.

As part of the deal, in which Helius made a profit of around £20 million, it will also receive 13 percent of the annual profits after tax generated by the plant during the first 24 years of its operation (this profit was valued by the company at £14.3 million in September 2008).

In early October, Helius raised £6.6 million in a placing priced at 16p pence per share – which was a premium to the share price at the time.

A key investor in biomass power plant builder Helius Energy (LON:HEGY) is joining its board as a non-executive director, the firm announced today.

Alastair Salvesen, who recently increased his stake in Helius from below five per cent to more than one-fifth of the company, has been a leading figure in the UK seafood industry for 30 years, having been managing director and now chairman of Dawnfresh Seafoods. He is also the chairman of Dovecot Studios and of Dawnfresh Farming, as well as being a director at both Praha Investment Holdings and Archangel Informal Investment (Scotland’s largest angel investor syndicate).

On November 1 Helius Energy announced that Salvesen increased his holding in the firm from 4,473,294 shares to 28,168,572 shares. Today it said he now holds 29,668,572 shares (or 22.4 per cent of the business).

Helius also announced two other appointments today. William Rickett, a former senior civil servant with investment banking and advisory experience, comes on board as another non-executive director. Rickett has held top positions at the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the International Energy Agency, and currently holds non-executive directorships at a number of energy-related organisations.

Meanwhile, William Ingram Hill is joining the board as chief operating officer, having previously been Helius’s general counsel and group company secretary.

Helius is currently progressing with a series of projects, including its flagship Avonmouth power plant project (for which it is seeking to secure project-level funding) and a project in Southampton for which it is aims to secure planning consent.