Eco Environments looking beyond solar panels

TURNOVER surged more than five-fold at Eco Environments, the Liverpool renewable energy company, due to high consumer demand for solar panels.

The Liverpool company said turnover shot up from £1.3m to £6.4m as soaring demand also saw it quadruple staff numbers from 12 to 50 and open a number of regional offices.
 
With the solar panel boom coming to an end after the Government signalled an end to attractive Feed-In-Tariff levels from July 1, Eco Environments is looking to continue to grow its commercial arm – which is already growing.

Managing director Mike Clarke said: “Solar PV and feed-in-tariffs have dominated the news agenda for the last couple of years, but the focus going forward will be far more about energy efficiency in the face of ever rising energy costs.

“Eco Environments is not a provider of solar panels; it is a business which offers customers the full range of renewable energy solutions of which solar panels happens to be one.”

The company designs, installs and commissions technologies including solar PV, wind turbines, solar thermal, air source heat pumps and energy efficient lighting.

During 2011, the company also moved to 9,000 sq ft of office and warehouse space on the Wellington Business Park, close to Liverpool city centre – more than six times’ the size of its previous base in Bootle.

The business also established regional offices in Newcastle, Leeds, Birmingham, Carlisle and St Asaph.

Commercial director Mark Buchanan added: ““The Government’s chaotic handling of the FIT rates is killing tens of thousands of jobs in the solar industry and taking away from consumers one of the best financial investments available to them during extremely uncertain economic times.

“But as a business with a range of solutions we are reinforcing the focus on energy and helping our customers understand how a holistic energy and efficiency strategy can really pay dividends.”