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Profile Elon Musk, Founder and products architect, Tesla and chairman, SolarCity. Disruptors are a double-edged sword. On the one hand they challenge established business models in a way that will inevita- bly leave some behind. However, they also bring about the kind of change that markets would not have achieved on their own. Elon Musk is such a disruptor. The South African-born Cana- dian-American billionaire has deep pockets, grand ideas and a knack for pouncing on a market at its conception and shaping it in his own vision. Musk launched his first com- pany at just 24 to provide maps and business directories to newly-created online newspa- pers at the dawn of the dot-com era. Four years later aer linking digital online maps from Navteq to a business directory and cre- ating the internet's first online yellow pages, he sold his com- pany, Zip2 Corporation, for $307 million. From there he merged a subsequent online financial- services company with a compet- itor called Confinity. Although a clash of personalities saw Musk removed from the board before the company evolved into Paypal, Musk was influ- ential in determining the com- mon payment system for online shopping. The technology entrepreneur has a track-record of getting his big ideas off the ground – liter- ally. His company SpaceX has the long-term ambition to make space travel more affordable. Already NASA has awarded the company a contract to handle cargo transport for the Interna- tional Space Station and SpaceX has successfully launched and landed a rocket. Importantly although his ideas are cutting edge, he achieves buy-in from customers in a way that few others can. So why is this technology entrepreneur important to the utilities sector? Because two of the most disruptive technologies to have faced the energy indus- try; renewable energy and elec- tric vehicles, are two of Musk's core interests. So passionate is he about promoting the use of renewable energy that he set up the Musk Foundation in 2002 with the aim of supporting research into renewable energy, among other scientific areas. He also is chairman of the US solar company SolarCity. His company Tesla Powerwall is single-handedly determining the public vision of electricity storage, and doing an impres- sive job of raising the profile of a technology which could other- wise be seen as niche. But along- side the talk is action. Musk is pushing hard to reduce the cost of lithium-ion battery technology until it is at an acceptable price- point to the mass consumer, and ramp up production to meet demand via his Gigafactory. The facility, which began production in January, currently stands at just 30 per cent of its final size. On completion in 2018 it will be the biggest factory in the world. The production line will also feed the insatiable desire for the Tesla electric vehicle. The Model S was the most popular EV in the world last year, sell- ing more than 50,000 units. With super-fast charging infrastruc- ture already putting new strains on the electricity network, and vehicle-to-grid technology on the horizon, there is no area of the energy market that is immune from Musk's influence moving forwards. Disruptors, such as Elon Musk and the Tesla Powerwall, will be discussed on the Keynote Theatre at Utility Week live at 9:40 on 24 May. For more information and to see the full list of top ten people and technologies, visit: www.utilityweeklive.co.uk Disruptors bring about change the market would not achieve alone. Solar "Solar panels are being installed fully because of the value of the electricity they generate. This was always somewhere we needed to get to and we're there now," Ray Noble, owner of Solar BIPV. "There can still be attractive investment opportunities in solar." Chris Devon, manager, PwC "Many commentators have talked about the decline of government support as being the beginning of the end. We have long talked about the need for the sector to wean itself off the drug of subsidies, and it now appears to be doing just that." EY's quarterly Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index chief editor Ben Warren "The truth is that solar has been too successful for the government's liking" Green MP Caroline Lucas on why subsidies have been cut for the technology Solar will be among the technologies discussed in the electricity system of the future seminar in the Network Theatre on 24 May. NUMBERS 34,400 The number of people the solar industry and its supply chain employs in the UK. 1.5% The proportion of UK electricity demand met by solar. 8GW Estimated solar capacity in the UK.