Energy firm powers up for better year ahead
Aug 18 2010 by Chris Knox, The Journal
A GREEN energy installation company believes that it can grow its sales andovercome a disappointing first year, which saw the Government scrap a key funding incentive.
Stockton-based Access Renewables was launched by industry professionals Karen Jones and Sean Collier last year to take advantage of the move towards renewable energy sources within the construction and maintenance sector.
Despite a promising start, the firm was hit by the Government’s decision to scrap the Low Carbon Buildings programme, which had provided grants of up to £2,500 to homeowners installing solar panels to their homes, resulting in the firm achieving revenues of £100,000, rather than the £500,000 it was aiming for.
However, the company has since managed to get itself back on track following the introduction of feed-in tariffs (FITs) earlier this year and believes it can achieve a turnover of £600,000 before growing this to £3m by the end of 2012.
The company recently moved from Middlesbrough to a site in Stockton-on-Tees, which now includes warehousing facilities, and has doubled its office space.
The firm, which has increased its workforce from three to seven since last year, has also set up a wholesale department to supply green energy products to other contractors, including solar panels and air source heat pumps, as well as a maintenance division.
It is now hoping that the coalition Government signs off plans to introduce a renewable heat incentive, which would reward homeowners for generating their own heat.
Mr Collier said: “It was a disappointing start to the business, however, we are in a much better position now, with a number of new grants and initiatives in the pipeline. The indicators show that this industry will be huge once it gets over the initial stumbling blocks.
“The introduction of FITs has helped us considerably and we have landed a number of contracts as a result.”
FITs see homeowners receive an additional payment for any excess electricity they export into the National Grid at a price three times that of a standard unit of electricity bought from a power supplier.
The Government believes that FITs will help to increase the level of renewable energy in the UK towards its target of 15% of total energy from renewables by 2020 (up from under 2% in 2009) and cut carbon emissions from homes by 29%.
The firm has just won a £50,000 contract to install solar panels at a housing development in Bolton and a £25,000 contract to install panels at three schools in Stockton.
