County Durham energy firm powers up with six-figure investment

A North East renewable energy consultancy is set to scale up after securing further investment from a regional fund.

Electek Solutions Limited (ESL) has teamed up with NEL to secure £100k from the Small Loan Fund, two years after receiving its first investment from the fund.

In 2018, the company secured £50k from the North East Small Loan Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund, to renovate a derelict 6,000 sq ft office and factory space in the Hobson Industrial Estate near Burnopfield.

The firm will use the new investment to expand its product range, as well as growing its workforce to meet growing demand for its services.

Electek director David Hutchinson commented: “We’ve performed well since the first North East Fund investment came in and felt we’d reached the limit of what we could do with the resources we had available, so going back to NEL for a second investment seemed like a natural move.

“Demand is continuing to grow for the commercial renewable energy solutions we supply and expanding our product range through both new designs of our own and partnerships with other suppliers will enable us to meet the needs of even more customers across the UK.”

Jane Siddle, investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, added: “ESL executed the first stage of their growth plans very impressively and cemented a very strong market position on which to base their expansion plans.

“Despite the challenging economic circumstances that we’re facing, many regional businesses will still have great ideas and business plans that they want to take and we increased the maximum investment value available from the Small Loan Fund to ensure enough capital is available to enable them to do so.”