CHP firm turns up the temperature with new factory

Buckingham palace uses Combined Heat and Power systems

Ener-g, a manufacturer of combined heat and power (CHP) systems, has opened a third factory in Salford this week as the company attempts to cope with the growing demand for its products from some rather high-profile customers.

The company, which has seen its CHP units installed at both Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, said that the new factory will allow it to increase production of its CHP and biogas generator units by around 50 per cent.

CHP systems typically use natural gas or renewable biogas to simultaneously generate usable heat and electricity in a single process. They boast higher levels of efficiency than conventional boilers and can reduce the carbon emissions from a building by around 20 per cent, while also cutting electricity costs by a third, according to figures from the CHP Association.

Derek Duffill, group managing director at Ener-g, said that demand for the technology is booming as growing numbers of business and domestic customers seek to cut their energy bills. "Our innovative products and services are in demand across the globe – fuelling our ongoing growth and reflected in our turnover of £90m which has grown four-fold over the past six years," he said.

The company said that the new factory will also house a dedicated training centre, designed to support efforts to expand its 90-strong installation and maintenance team.

The opening of the new site comes just a week after the company's waste-to-energy subsidiary Energos announced that it had secured planning approval for its latest plant in Merseyside, taking to five the number of waste-to-energy CHP plants the company has secured approval for.