Liebherr plans expansion for Swiss engine site

Liebherr is set to invest more than CHF200m (£137m) over the next six years to expand its engine development and production site at Bulle in the Swiss canton of Fribourg.

swiss

Plans include a new building, due for completion in 2016, for the development and production of common rail fuel injection systems.

Liebherr Machines Bulle develops and produces diesel and gas engines, fuel injection systems, hydraulic components and splitter boxes. These are used in machines and equipment manufactured by Liebherr, but also by customers outside the group.

The area used for engine test benches will be made substantially larger and will cover more than 14,000m². New machine production will also increase in capacity, allowing production of an expanded range of parts.

Production of common rail fuel injection systems, which have been manufactured in Bulle since 2012, should be increased to more than 100,000 units per year.

The new factory section for the development and production of fuel injection systems will cover an area of 9,000m² and is due to be opened in 2016. The building will be separate from the engine and hydraulics production and will feature highly automated assembly lines and quality assurance systems in line with automotive industry standards.

The plans also include modernisation of the service and logistics infrastructure with a new warehouse and logistics centre, and the expansion of the training centre.

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Brick maker invests for recovery

bricksrecoverySupplying bricks to build Coronation Street was not enough to prevent restructuring costs pushing Michelmersh into a £1.5m pre-tax loss last year.

However, after a difficult first half to 2013, with slow sales and closure of its Dunton brickworks costing £2.2m, sales picked up in the second half.

Turnover for the full year was up 12.6% to £25.9m (2012: £23.0m), through the sale of an extra seven million bricks. Excluding restricting costs, operating profit was steady at £1.4m, the same as in 2012, although the operating marine was therefore down.

The company says that having closed Dunton and sold surplus land it is now a transformed business, preparing to increase capacity to meet rising demand.

Indeed the whole brick industry is having to gear up for expansion now and prices are starting to rise, having remained flat through 2013.

In January 2014 Michelmersh began work to increase production capacity at its Freshfield Lane brickworks by 20%. This £2.2m investment will increase the group’s 2015 output by six million bricks.

Industry brick stocks have reduced from 1.1 billion in 2008 to 332 million at the end of January 2014.

Michelmersh chairman Eric Gadsden said that this demonstrated that “industry dynamics have been completely transformed from a position of overstocking to a threat of shortages when construction indicators are now positive”.

He said: “The rebalancing will take time to feed through into a stable market, however at this early part of the year prices have firmed up significantly with customers now focusing on securing supply for their projects.”

CEO Martin Warner added: “After five very difficult years for the business and the industry, 2014 has started positively.  With pricing and demand improving, increased production at our most efficient plant, and the other exciting initiatives for 2014, we believe that we will be able to more than hold our own in the future and the fruits of many years of hard work will start to become apparent.”

 

Tagged with: , , , ,

Laying the grounds for growth

layingthegroundsWith the soon to be launched domestic RHI set to offer consumers a good incentive to make the switch to renewable technologies, demand for ground source heat pumps is set to rise. Chris Davis, Commercial Director at Kensa Heat Pumps, sets out the acase for GSHPs.

With the stormy weather, some of the worst floods in living memory and the ‘winter that never was’ now seemingly behind us, spring is on the way and with it at last comes the long anticipated launch of the Domestic RHI” four and half years after originally being announced.

At the time of writing, Ofgem has just published the first batch of its domestic RHI fact sheets, proof positive for the cynics that yes, at long last, the finer details of the long awaited and long-time needed stimulus to the domestic renewable heat market are about to be revealed.

With the tariffs for ground source heat pumps confirmed at an attractive 18.8p/kWh, there will be huge growth opportunities for contractors and heating engineers operating in the domestic sector, particularly those operating in rural areas, away from the gas grid.

The recent furore over double digit energy price increases coupled with news that the typical UK household heating bills are now well in excess of £1000 per year, has certainly given many householders food for thought when it comes to the costs of domestic heating.

The challenge for installers then is to identify the best pockets in the market that would benefit most from renewable technologies. Certainly in scenarios where customers are faced with potentially having to upgrade an aging oil boiler, the certainty of a guaranteed payback on investment of under five years”“ thanks in part to the Renewable Heat Incentive” means ground source heat pumps are a particularly compelling solution.

For example: with the combined benefit of fuel costs savings against oil heating and the RHI income, a ground source heat pump retro fitted into a 120m2, four bedroom property can pay for itself in as little as five years:
Ambitious target

The financial stimulus the RHI will bring not only aids private householders, but also creates real business opportunities for heating installers in the private sector” all intended to help achieve the Governments target of 4 million heat pumps by 2030. This ambitious target is proof of the Governments conviction in heat pump technology and its capacity to deliver wide scale and long term carbon and cost savings across both domestic and commercial sectors.

By their nature, ground source heat pumps suit properties with available land area, with horizontal ” or more commonly in our experience” slinky ground collectors being the most cost effective means of extracting the heat from the ground. For single domestic installations, boreholes are likely to be cost prohibitive.

Properties with a reasonable land area available tend to be somewhat larger than average, subsequently with a higher peak heat load. However, larger domestic dwellings on single phase electricity supplies are notoriously tricky to deal with using heat pumps. This is principally because typically the largest single phase heat pumps available offer around 12-14kW output, above which only three phase units are available.

Air drop

For air source heat pumps, this problem is exacerbated, as typically the output of the unit is rated at optimum water heating temperatures (35ºC) and benevolent outside air temperatures (7ºC). By their nature, the majority of air source heat pumps on the market will see their output reduce as the operating conditions become more testing i.e. lower typical winter operating air temperatures and higher heating system flow temperatures in retro-fit situations. And with the MCS sizing rules now requiring the heat pump to provide 100% of the required building heat load at an outdoor temperature in the region of -1 ºC to -4ºC (based on the CIBSE Guide A), this limits the maximum heat load that can be covered by an individual air source heat pump in many cases to around 10kW.

So what is the solution for larger private dwellings on single phase with high peak heat loads looking to replace an oil boiler? Ground source heat pumps suffer far less from the issue of reduced performance when the weather turns cold, principally because the heat source (the ground) isnt directly affected by the ambient air conditions, remaining stable year round. As a result, GSHPs lend themselves to supporting higher heat loads than air source systems.

Better still, Kensa ” with our focus entirely on the needs of the UK market and the peculiarities of our electricity infrastructure and housing stock ” has a range of single phase ground source heat pumps able to provide outputs of up to 24kW, expanding the scope of opportunity for customers with larger homes off the gas grid, where the previous costly and unrewarding alternative was oil or LPG.

Oil installers will be acutely aware of the impact seasonality and fluctuations in oil prices can have on their market. Lets be under no illusion that the mild, albeit wet, winter will have affected the running costs of oil based systems. Furthermore, with oil prices currently falling, the question must be asked if customers are more likely to remain with oil based systems now, rather than had we experienced a far harsher winter and oil price hikes?

The point here is to look at the bigger picture. The Renewable Heat Incentive by its very name offers an excellent financial incentive to the market to switch to a more sustainable form of heating, and to address the additional financial outlay required for renewable technologies. But to encourage a householder to change its habits and make the leap to a cleaner, greener technology, more than a financial encouragement is needed, particularly if the current perception is that oil prices are falling and will continue to do so.
Long running

Ground source heat pumps have an expected lifetime of 25 years, and the ground array an impressive 100 year design lifetime” with minimal maintenance required. Compare this to the average lifetime of a new condensing boiler at just 10 – 12 years, and the necessary ongoing maintenance costs. Now consider the price of oil over a 10 year lifetime of a boiler ” it may currently be experiencing a welcomed drop, however over the past 10 years the price of oil has experienced an average year on year increase of 10.77% (Source: ONS 2014). Compare this to gas which has had a year on year increase of 10.51% over the past 10 years, and electricity that has experienced an average increase of 6.05%.

If these patterns continue, the long term outlook for fuel costs is an accelerating disparity between heating oil costs and electricity. Add to this the ‘greening’ of the national grid, and the bigger picture is now far more compelling for householders to replace their consumption of heating oil with efficient electricity-supported renewable technology, that not only lasts longer, but is more affordable, resilient to price hikes, and clean.

Of course to address the immediate cost differences, the efficiency of a ground source heat pump comes to the fore”“ the more efficient the heat pump, the lower the fuel costs. Furthermore, as with any renewable technology” and particularly so with heat pumps”  sizing and installation are critically important in ensuring a well performing and sustainable system. To this end, it is strongly advised that oil installers access the wealth of training available through manufacturers and the Governments training incentive administered by GTEC, under which 75% of the cost of renewables training can be saved.

Tagged with: , , ,

Warm reception for Budget…

budgetThe recent Budget has been seen as a mixed bag for the construction sector; with positive news for housebuilders, but not so great news for the green agenda, according to SIF Energy Management. 

Vince Matthews, head of marketing at SIF Energy Management, said:

“The £500 million pot set aside under the Builders Finance Fund was warmly welcomed by many across the industry. Along with the extension of the Help to Buy scheme to 2020, this will provide a much-needed boost for the housebuilding industry, and will go a long way towards helping overcoming the UK’s crippling housing deficit.

“There was the distinct lack of support offered by Chancellor George Osborne to help alleviate the plight of the stricken Green Deal, and its sister scheme the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) – ignoring vocal calls from across the industry to provide additional support.

“Despite having come under fire recently, the 160,000 Green Deal assessments carried out to date are clearly evidence that there is a definite appetite to improve the energy efficiency of the country’s building stock. Where the scheme has fallen down so far is that people simply aren’t taking these assessments forward and signing up to a Green Deal Plan.

“Through the 2014 Budget, there was the potential for Mr Osborne to commit additional resource to help boost the Green Deal and make the loans it offers more appealing to homeowners; either through reduced interest rates or providing a further boost to the cash-back scheme. In choosing not to capitalise on this opportunity, I fail to see how the scheme can even begin to pull itself out of the current slump in which it is stuck.

“Of course, the energy efficiency industry is also still facing the repercussions from the cuts made to the ECO programme, which has resulted in thousands of installers at risk from losing their jobs and smaller installation firms going out of business. While the number of measures installed through ECO has started to pick up, we are a long way away from the peak number of retrofit measures installed before the cuts in the Autumn Statement – and the impact of this is being felt across the sector.

“While the Chancellor has acknowledged the vital role energy efficiency has to play in cutting energy costs in the long term, there is little in his recent budget which shows real support for his government’s flagship green schemes. The question is, by the time the next Budget comes round, will it be too late?”

Tagged with: , , , ,

RHI training vouchers: Installers reminded to take advantage

trainingInstallers are being urged to take advantage of the vouchers available to help with the cost of RHI training.

With the imminent launch of the domestic RHI, the voucher scheme is designed to help installers living and working in England gain the qualifications required to become MCS certified and get involved in the installation and maintenance of domestic renewable heat technologies including solar thermal, heat pumps and biomass systems.

A Cross Skill voucher is eligible for solar thermal, heat-pump and biomass courses and is valued up to £500 or 75% of the total course cost including VAT – whichever is the lesser amount.

So, if a solar thermal course is priced at £500 + VAT totalling £600, then the voucher would be for £450. For a biomass course priced at £650 + VAT totalling £780, 75% of the cost is £585, but the voucher would be for a maximum of £500. Payment is made to the Training Provider upon completion of the course and assessment. Apprenticeship support vouchers are also available up to £2,500 to support those nearing the end of their plumbing/heating apprenticeship to become skilled with one or more renewable technologies.

RHI training vouchers are accepted at approved training centres across the UK, including several HETAS venues. Installers can find out more about the RHI training vouchers at www.rhitraining.co.uk. Biomass training is now available at the majority of HETAS approved training centres around the country.

Tagged with: , , , , , , ,
Top