Climate Change Minister Greg Barker has opened a £2 million extension to the global headquarters of low carbon technology group ENER-G in Salford, Greater Manchester, and celebrated news that the company will create 100 new jobs in 2011.
Over the past ten years, the international manufacturing and engineering group has increased the size of its workforce from 75 to more than 760 people worldwide, with 560 of them based in the UK.
Through its partnerships with schools, colleges and universities ENER-G is helping to develop tomorrow’s talent, training 20 young people on its apprenticeship scheme and new graduate development programme.
The new building has doubled ENER-G’s office space and will release additional space for manufacturing low carbon and renewable technologies, including biogas generation and combined heat and power systems (CHP).
The company also announced immediate plans to increase investment in excess of £0.25 million in its manufacturing facility in Salford. This is the culmination of a three year manufacturing expansion programme that will enable the business to double its manufacturing output during 2011 from 2008 levels.
ENER-G’s technologies provide total carbon savings of five million tonnes per year for its customers, equivalent to the environmental benefit of 500 million trees.
Turnover grew 34% last year to £130 million, 47% of which was generated by export sales. This is in line with the company’s year-on-year growth profile of 30% for the last ten years. ENER-G has operating companies, joint ventures and partnerships in 18 countries, including the UK, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Lithuania, Italy, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Mexico and Spain, with partners in Canada and across Western and Eastern Europe.
Greg Barker said: “I’m extremely pleased to announce the £2 million expansion to ENER-G and to celebrate the new jobs that will come with that investment. These are still challenging times for the whole economy but as the recovery really starts to grow, Salford is fast becoming a green beacon of the Northwest by capitalising on a move to a low carbon economy.
“I’m impressed by the forward thinking nature of businesses here which are developing the technologies of the future but I also want to find out what challenges still exist for those yet to benefit. I’m talking to local businesses to find ways to unlock investment. We’re serious about being the greenest government ever and unlocking low green growth in all parts Britain.”
Tim Scott, chairman of ENER-G, said: “We are delighted to announce the creation of more skilled jobs, and extremely proud of our growth and achievements. Engineering and manufacturing businesses like ours make a rich contribution to UK PLC. Continued government support for sustainable energy is critical to building the new low carbon economy in which we operate and we were very pleased to have an opportunity to celebrate our success with the Minister and to discuss policies that can drive growth in the sector.”
Nick Storer, Chief Executive at Envirolink Northwest, the leading support company for the growth of the low carbon and environmental goods and services sector in the Northwest, said: “When we were approached by The Department of Energy and Climate Change to facilitate a meeting with a successful Northwest based company in the low carbon sector we were delighted to help. Opportunities such as these enable us to showcase the region’s achievements on a national level, and ENER-G is a good example of this success. The presence of broader supply chain companies from the region allowed the Minister to gain a snap shot of the sector and emphasised the importance of the Northwest and the low carbon sector as key contributors to the overall growth of the UK’s economy.”
ENER-G develops, manufactures, delivers, finances and maintains energy efficient and renewable solutions. In addition to CHP units and biogas systems, these include geothermal energy, heat pumps, efficient lighting, controls, metering, billing and data solutions, and new generation energy from waste. The company has more installed CHP systems across the UK and Europe than any other supplier, including installations in Buckingham Palace, hospitals, hotels, leisure centres, government offices, supermarkets, factories and other buildings worldwide.
The company was founded in 1997 through the acquisition of Manchester’s first university spinout business Combined Power Systems. ENER-G was a recent winner in the National Business Awards, becoming 3i Private Business of the Year.
Source: ENER-G