A North East company at the forefront of innovation in renewable energy technology has secured funding of more than £3.6m from a consortium of three investors. The news comes a week after it was announced that Applied Superconductor Ltd (ASL) – based in Blyth, Northumberland – had signed a £4m contract with Rolls Royce and the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), a public-private partnership between six global industrial companies and the UK Government, to reduce downtime from electrical power cuts. Earlier this year it announced it had won a major contract with CE Electric UK, one of the UK’s biggest electricity suppliers. And now ASL has confirmed it has been backed by a consortium of three investors – Octopus Ventures, OCAS Ventures and IP Group plc through the Finance for Business North East Technology Fund – to the tune of £3.6m. Applied Superconductor chief executive Herbert Piereder said: “This constitutes a key step in our development. It will allow us to expand our market presence and operations to secure a substantial share in this rapidly developing market.” ASL has developed a device called a Superconducting Fault Current Limiter, which protects electrical networks from the effects of short circuits. It provides a vital, cost effective and safe method of connecting electricity generated by renewable energy sources into the main grid without major infrastructure upgrades. The UK’s progress towards a so-called Smart Grid had been hampered by the prospect of increasing instability through the merging of lower voltage electricity from renewable sources with higher voltage electricity produced via traditional power stations. ASL’s device is triggered when a fault occurs. Within a few milliseconds it limits the short circuit currents to lower levels. That means no component or switching equipment in the system becomes overloaded and can operate safely. Luke Hakes, of ASL investor Octopus Ventures, said: “ASL has proven itself to be a company which has taken the lead in this very sophisticated technology. As a result it has positioned itself right at the heart of the seismic changes affecting how electricity is generated and brought safely into our homes and places of work. Not only is our support a major vote of confidence, it also enables Herbert and his team to develop the company to meet the ambitions we all have for it.” Nick Edgar, investment manager at IP Group plc, which manages the Finance for Business North East Technology Fund, added: “Backing stand-out businesses in the energy and renewables sector is very much part of IP Group’s investment strategy and ASL’s technology and commercial offering fits very clearly into this category. ASL’s product range represents a real breakthrough in its field - reducing risk, increasing safety and extending the lifespan of existing technologies and infrastructures. It has huge cost and carbon reduction potential and it is fantastic to be able to support the development of this innovative company here in the North East.” Mr Piereder said: “The widespread application of Fault Current Limiters offers a huge potential for savings through reduced capital investment, speeding up the connection of renewable generation, reducing losses, getting more out of existing networks and significantly improving the quality and security of supply.” Applied Superconductor was the first company to establish that Superconducting Fault Current Limiters are a key technology in the development of Smart Grids and has gained widespread attention in the energy sector for its development. Mr Piereder added: “You just have to look around the North East to see the rapid growth of renewable energy sources and because of Government targets to reduce carbon emissions this will increase. In this region Blyth and in particular the National Renewable Energy Centre Narec has been at the forefront of this new technology, which is why set up our base here.” For more information on the Finance for Business North East Technology Fund, please visit: www.thenortheasttechnologyfund.com. Finance for Business has been made possible by a collaboration between the European Investment Bank (EIB) http://www.eib.org/, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and regional development agency One North East (ONE). The EIB has provided funding of £62.5m with ERDF and ONE supplying the remaining £62m.

Source