The Carbon Trust explains how a loan taken out by SAM Mouldings Limited helped the company purchase equipment that is helping it to generate its own energy, thereby reducing the company’s costs and carbon emissions.
A family run business based in Antrim, Northern Ireland, SAM Mouldings specialises in the manufacture of MDF architectural mouldings for the construction and home improvement industries, making products such as architrave, skirting, door frames, window board and stair treads.
With an energy bill of around £230,000 a year and the company’s demand for energy likely to grow due to expansion, factory manager Mark Kirkpatrick contacted the Carbon Trust for advice on how to make its operations more energy efficient. The company applied for an interest-free Energy Efficiency Loan to install a biomass woodchip boiler with heat exchanger and steam turbine. The equipment would help the company to burn its waste MDF chippings and dust from the manufacturing process to generate electricity and heat
SAM Mouldings was awarded the maximum loan of £200,000 towards the cost of the project of around £1.2 million. As a result, the company will be able to generate its own electricity – the turbine will produce about 7.5million kW per year – displacing all of the company’s current grid electricity demand and saving approximately £230,000 per annum.
As the turbine will generate more electricity than the company needs, it will sell the surplus to the grid, which will be worth approximately an additional £33,750 a year.
The total cost savings will be approximately £263,750 worth of electrical energy with an additional £300,000 saved as a result of not having to pay for waste disposal. The total project payback period is just over two years. Potential carbon dioxide savings total 1,195 tonnes a year.
Mark Kirkpatrick, Factory Manager at SAM Mouldings said: “We’re now on our way to being completely self-sufficient in terms of our electricity generation and making significant cost and carbon savings as a result. The application process for our interest-free loan was very straightforward and I would recommend any company considering renewable technology as a way of mitigating long term energy costs to contact the Carbon Trust to take advantage of the scheme.”
The Carbon Trust, in conjunction with Invest NI, offers interest-free energy efficiency loans to businesses in Northern Ireland that are investing in energy efficient equipment or renewable technology.
By providing loans of up to £200,000 that contribute to the capital cost and installation of equipment, successful applicants can fund energy saving projects that help them save money and cut carbon emissions.
Examples of renewables projects that may qualify for an interest-free Energy Efficiency Loan include:
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Wind turbines
- Waste wood boilers
- Biomass boilers
- Vegetable oil fuelled boilers
- Ground source heat pumps
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