+ 01.02.2012 + UK manufacturer of small wind turbines Evance saw a 200 per cent growth in sales in 2011, making it a record year for the Leicestershire-based firm.

Announcing the figures, Evance said it had doubled the size of its manufacturing facility and grown its workforce by 25 per cent on the back of the strong sales last year. It added it was entering 2012 with a strong order book. The company, which was formerly known as Iskra, specialises in small wind turbines for homes, schools and farms.

R9000 turbine

Evance currently has a global footprint of 900 installations and last year sold a total of 400 turbines. A spokesperson said Evance's R9000 wind turbine, which it launched in 2009, made up all of its 2011 sales with 80 per cent going to UK customers and the rest going to the export market.

"2011 was a record year for Evance and we look forward to a strong 2012," commented Kevin Parslow, ceo of Evance.

Uncertainty

Evance’s growth comes at a difficult time for the UK small wind sector. Not only is the industry facing uncertainty over the future of the Government renewables subsidy scheme the Feed-in Tariff (FiT), but the sector has been shaken by a number of technical failures to do with wind turbines. Last year, Scottish small wind manufacturer Proven Energy had to close down after a technical problem was discovered with one of its turbines, while this month, Evoco issued an alert to shut down all of its wind turbines after a series of failures were reported following high winds.

Feed-in Tariff wrangle

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is currently embroiled in a legal wrangle over the FiT, after a High Court ruled its plans to slash tariffs for solar electricity was unlawful. DECC has lodged an appeal against the decision, which is due to be heard on Friday. It says it has to take urgent action to cut the FiT for solar systems because the entire FiT budget is at risk if does not.

Parslow said he wanted to see the Government "continued support" for small wind through "stable" Feed-in-Tariffs. "With energy costs rising by around 20 per cent this year and possibly more in the future years, wind energy is a great benefit," he said.

SusCon 2012