LinkedIn·Thursday, 23 July 2026·23 Jul 2026

I have seen companies from the inside, and one thing holds almost everywhere: capital is limited, and no one likes to spend it outside…

Nina Waffenschmidt

CEO at PerPetum Energy

I have seen companies from the inside, and one thing holds almost everywhere: capital is limited, and no one likes to spend it outside their core business. For an industrial company, energy is rarely that core business. A quarry, a steel plant, a chemical site: their capital belongs in the process that earns their living, not in energy infrastructure on their own balance sheet. Renewable energy has to compete for that investment budget, and it usually loses. That is what makes the model I work with now at PerPetum Energy compelling. We do not ask a company to fund the system upfront. They pay for the energy, not the hardware. But I have come to think the financing is only part of why it works. What keeps clients comfortable is predictability. For energy-intensive businesses especially, hedging and risk management are not side topics, they are central. A system that makes energy costs more predictable is worth as much as one that removes the initial cost. So the offer is really three things at once. We cover the investment. We bring predictability in a volatile market. And we give access to decarbonisation, without asking a company to become an energy investor to get there. That combination is what I find genuinely strong about it. Not one of those three on its own, but all three together. PS: the site in the photo is Carmeuse in Aisemont. A quarry, exactly the kind of business I mean. Their capital goes into what they do best, not into the energy system on the hillside above it. That part is ours.