RGF pumps £3.14m into Bladon Jets

COVENTRY micro gas turbine innovator Bladon Jets has won a £3.14m Regional Growth Fund award.

The funding will be used at the company’s research and development facility to develop its micro gas turbine generator and automotive range.

Bladon Jets finance director Adam Le Van said the funding would be used to fund three vital elements in the company’s growth plans.

“Firstly, it will provide us with world class specialist testing facilities. Secondly, it will enable us to create 18 new high value research jobs and thirdly it will fund a detailed manufacturing study to put all the research and development into action,” he said.

He said Bladon Jets intends to base its future UK manufacturing facilities in the West Midlands to take advantage of the region’s engineering and automotive manufacturing skills.

“The test cell facilities we will be developing will be the best in the world, and they will need world leading manufacturing facilities which will create significant numbers of skilled assembly jobs,” he said.

“We have a genuine belief that there is nowhere better to do this than Coventry and Warwickshire because of the supply chains that exist here, not only with local suppliers but also the UK divisions of major international companies.”

Bladon Jets is developing micro gas turbine technology that will enable it to build micro turbine generators one third the size of conventional piston engine units, at a comparable cost.

Le Van said: “The achilles heel of gas turbines has always been size and cost. We can now produce power generating units that can compete with diesel and run on all manner of fuel types – from kerosene to perfume, and all kind of plant fuels, such as bio gas.

Bladon Jets was helped through the due diligence process by accountancy firm Mazars.

The Government’s Regional Growth Fund is a £2.6bn fund operating across England until 2016. It supports projects and programmes that are using private sector investment to create economic growth and sustainable employment.

It has a minimum bid threshold of £1m.