Member Article

Sky’s the limit for solar say Sunderland’s prizewinning innovators as penny drops for businesses

A trailblazing Sunderland renewable energy company that won a £10,000 prize for innovation in the Autumn reckons 2023 will be a boom year for business with companies and organisations waking up to the value of renewable energy.

Vero Power, based in Sunderland’s South Docks earned their award at Teesside’s Festival of Thrift in September, winning a challenge to reduce the festival’s carbon footprint with their self-designed mobile, hybrid solar power solution.

But the company’s management group says that while the award was good for their profile, the real victory this year has come with unprecedented orders from businesses as the green transition gathers pace.

Craig Morgan, Vero Power’s chief commercial officer, said: “Everyone at Vero got a big boost when we won the festival prize.

“It was a thumbs up for what we do - which is finding successful solutions for those looking to introduce solar into trickier environments.

“But the real story of our year has been the sea-change that we are seeing from organisations big and small as they reassess their properties and premises in terms of where they might put solar and look to renewable solutions rather than traditional power.” Vero was created from four separate renewable energy companies across the North East two years ago when a group of like-minded businesses decided there was strength in numbers and a real opportunity to make an impact on the solar market with bespoke solutions.

The company manufactures renewable power generators and renewable energy systems for all sectors while installing unique hybrid, mobile and modular solar power in places that are challenging.

Much of their work has previously gone abroad - to South Africa, Mexico, the USA, and Nigeria - often on projects in isolated places where traditional power is difficult to generate and communities are completely off-grid.

The company has recently completed two solar battery projects in Zambia for rural off-grid clinics and exported two systems to the Indian Himalayas for a school and a vet clinic.

But in the wake of a surge in domestic interest, including a holiday park in Thirsk in January, a campsite in Northumberland in April, Vero has had multiple inquiries from companies that had never previously thought of solar as viable for them.

Craig added: “When it was first set up, Vero initially provided renewable power to some of the world’s most underserved communities, addressing poverty and jumpstarting efforts to create and accelerate economic activity.

“We’ll continue to do that next year but the company is now expanding to deploy technology and services across businesses and organisations in the UK to aid customers’ energy transition targets by moving their power generation to renewable sources.

“We’ve been taken aback by the speed with which businesses in the North East have been looking at solar as a way to reduce their carbon footprints and to reduce their soaring energy bills.

“We’ve provided renewable power to the construction, infrastructure, agricultural, rural, petrochemical and events sectors underpinned by our specialist design and engineering team and it’s going to be a major growth industry in 2023.”

The company also believes the North East should aim to make itself a recognised centre of excellence for the solar industry with the prospect of good, green jobs to follow.

A report this month from PwC showed that the number of jobs being created in renewable energy is growing four times faster than the overall UK employment market, with 2.2% of all new UK jobs classified as ‘green’.

However, it also showed that a growing number were based in London and the south-east, threatening hopes of a levelling up benefit in green growth.

Craig said: “We’ve a team of 15 with plans to expand ambitiously next year; there are plenty of renewable energy companies in the North East that have real potential.

“We just need to ensure that they’re given support wherever possible and we’ll see them grow and expand because the region has the talent and dedication to succeed.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graeme Anderson .