RSK Group acquires high-voltage grid connection specialist

Environmental and engineering solutions firm RSK Group has expanded with the acquisition of a specialist independent connection provider that delivers high-voltage grid connection infrastructure for renewable energy and energy storage projects across the UK.

The acquisition of HV Energy Systems (HVES) boosts RSK’s focus on end-to-end delivery across renewables, energy storage and wider infrastructure. The deal will strengthen the group’s integrated service offering, while it will retain HVES’s delivery-led operating model.

Based in Bristol, HVES is National Electricity Registration Scheme accredited and delivers grid connection projects across the UK, including turnkey design-and-build services. It focuses on technically complex high voltage (33kV – 132kV) and extra high voltage (up to 400kV) connections.

HVES clients include a number of leading UK renewable energy developers and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) businesses. Recent projects include work on solar photovoltaics and battery energy storage systems (BESS), modular substations for distribution network operator adoption and auxiliary power skid-mounted substations for high-demand BESS critical power supplies.

The company’s services span detailed design and engineering, procurement, project management, construction, installation, commissioning and energisation. Its 24-strong team operates a delivery-led, engineer-driven model, intended to reduce design iterations, accelerate approvals with distribution network operators and mitigate execution risk.

HVES Managing Director Craig Steven and Technical Director Louis Wright, who co-founded the business, will continue to lead the company post-acquisition.

In a statement, the pair said: “This partnership will strengthen the service and support we deliver to clients, backed by increased scale and access to a wider network. For clients and colleagues, it is business as usual: you will continue to work with the same team and receive the same level of service, underpinned by the trusted relationships we have built.”

RSK Chief Executive Officer Alan Ryder (pictured above) said: “The highly skilled HVES team will add significant value to RSK’s energy transition services and we are very pleased to have them join the group and work alongside some outstanding multidisciplinary colleagues on a range of important energy projects.

“HVES’s capability is particularly valued by renewable energy developers, for whom grid connection is both technically complex and schedule-critical. Delays to energisation can materially affect projects, increasing the importance of delivery certainty and proven technical capability. This makes the HVES team a crucial element in the success of projects that contribute greatly to UK energy security.”

RSK Group is one of the most acquisitive operators in the UK’s environmental and engineering solutions market, with its M&A-led model having enabled it to build a group of more than 200 companies across 40 countries on six continents, with a staff headcount exceeding 15,000 people.

In the year to April 6 2025, the group reported revenues of £2.24 billion (up 21 per cent from the previous year). Despite reporting a pre-tax loss of £124.5 million (down from £132 million a year earlier), this was in line with group expectations and reflected its acquisition-driven growth model.

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