Berwick firm getting boost from clean power interest

Nov 18 2010 by John Hill, The Journal

CONSTRUCTION and renewable energy company Maden eco (formerly Maden Design and Build) is confident that increased interest in wind and solar installations will add staff and hugely increase its turnover.

The Berwick-upon-Tweed firm has recently received planning permission to erect a turbine at a farm in Northumberland, and expects to boost turnover by up to £5m by adding 50 new wind turbines in the next 12 months.

It has also recently been contacted by a national outlet company to assess whether photovoltaic panels can be fitted on roofs on its sites.

The company has said it hopes to add 20 staff to help with sales and turbine installations over the next two years, and has already signed up four people to bring its workforce to 15. It reported turnover of more than £1m in the summer.

Co-founder Simon Maden, who set up the company with brother Andrew in 1996, said: “The construction company is going OK and the renewable energy side is taking off.”

Maden is currently waiting on applications for turbines in areas such as Dunbar, Derbyshire and Northallerton, and has lodged an application for a plot on Ramparts Business Park in Berwick, where it will build a new office, storage area and training tower. It hopes to start construction in January.

The construction side of the business has submitted a planning application for a 122-home development in Tweedmouth that will feature homes for first-time buyers, 42 affordable units and bungalows earmarked for the area’s elderly population.

The project is being developed in partnership with Johnson Housing.

The presence of the Government’s feed-in tariff, which pays out to those who generate clean electricity, is attracting businesses with an eye for high returns.

The tariff escaped the cuts of the spending review, but the government has reserved the right to make adjustments ahead of the 2012 review if there is higher take-up than expected. Maden said turbine installations range from around £28,000 to over £520,000 with full capital payback in around five years.

Maden said: “It’s a pretty good investment at the moment, and surplus money can be used to pay other energy bills or contribute to the pension fund.

“To get an 8% to 10% return on solar and a 25% to 45% return on wind is very attractive to these companies, and small businesses with surplus funds that aren’t getting much interest from the banks are also considering the benefits.

“It all hinges on the feed-in tariff. In five years’ time if they chop the whole thing, we’ll see things like this disappear overnight, but we should be able to build up a good maintenance company going forward and we’re still a construction company. We’ll just make hay while the sun shines.”