The Company
Galebreaker Group Ltd is a specialist manufacturer of screens and doors for the agricultural industry, power stations and the oil and gas sector. Its state-of-the-art screens and doors are used to control temperature and the environment. It exports around 65 percent of what it produces.
The Challenge
Based in Ledbury, Herefordshire, Galebreaker has been through rapid growth and continues to expand. Turnover soared by 16 percent last year and is on course to grow by a further 16 percent in this current financial year. Galebreaker was interested in exploring the opportunity to make an investment that both lowered its carbon footprint and generated cost-savings over a short period.
The Solution
The Business Energy Efficiency Programme (BEEP) was recommended to Galebreaker by the Marches Growth Hub, in September 2017, Galebreaker applied to the BEEP programme. Independent energy management experts, Pro Enviro Ltd, were appointed and carried out a free energy assessment at the factory and offices helping Galebreaker to identify annual savings of up to £18,870 and 62.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
“They helped us prioritise the required changes and specifications for the contractors quotes and supported our grant application processes,” said Galebreaker Director Keith Hardie. “Pro Enviro also helped us apply for the grant part of the scheme – you get a 40 percent grant if everything goes to plan, and that’s what we did.”
The comprehensive energy management scheme involved changing all factory and office lighting to LED lights and the installation of four destratification fans in the factory.
“The project value was around £38k, and we received a grant of £15k. We spent £34k changing every light in the building, including office and outside lighting and £4.5k for the fans.
“We installed the lighting in February this year and it only took three weeks.”
“We also put in four destratification fans, which spread the heat back down to ground level and help keep a much more efficient heat system within the factory.”
The Results
Galebreaker is on track to meet the carbon and cost savings identified in the initial energy assessment.
“The light quality has improved considerably. The staff in both the offices and the factories say that it’s much better lighting than we had before, and it’s at less cost!” said Keith. “We will have regained our investment within two years.”
“The whole process went through very smoothly. We would certainly recommend the BEEP programme to anyone else.”
BEEP is a partnership between Worcestershire Councils, Herefordshire Council, Telford & Wrekin Council, Shropshire Council, Shropshire Chamber of Commerce and Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce.
The Business Energy Efficiency Programme is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and offers free advice and up to 40% grant funding to businesses in Worcestershire and The Marches.
For more information on Business Energy Efficiency Programme, please contact the Worcestershire Business Central team on 01905 677888 or email info@worcestershiregrowthhub.co.uk
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