A Northern Ireland energy company has achieved more than £34 million savings and slashed 80,000 tonnes of C02 emissions from the Northern Ireland business sector following a simple grant spend of £837,000.

The reduction in customers' energy bills and emissions was achieved by Belfast-based Energia through an energy efficiency scheme for commercial premises which was introduced by the energy regulator NIAUR and assisted by Energy Savings Trust (EST).

Tom Gillen, Energia Chief Operating Officer, said the scheme has been in place for five years and has cut some businesses bills by over £200 000.

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"We introduced schemes based around energy efficiency lighting in 2005 and then developed with technologies beyond lighting to include variable speed drives (VSDs), heat recovery devices, sonic leak detection and refrigeration," Mr Gillen explained.

"There is now a great opportunity for businesses to cut their overheads significantly through the use of grants which will cover at least 20% of the investment.

"Belfast International Airport and Camden Frames have introduced variable speed drives and combined have cut over 1M KWhrs of their bills while Montupet and Curley's supermarkets progressed from lighting schemes to VSDs, refrigeration heat recovery technology and insulation manufacturer Springvale EPS installed VSDs to improve its energy efficiency."

Energia's current energy efficiency programmes support a range of schemes that will deliver projects with a total capital expenditure of up to £1m.

Mr Gillen said savings made through these projects mean the equipment will have paid for itself within two years of installation in most businesses. Grants are still available from Energia for High Bay lighting, Sonic Leak Detection, Hy save refrigeration and Variable Speed Drives.

(BmcC/GK)