McColl’s firm gears up for efficiency drive

A WIND turbine company backed by engineering tycoon Jim McColl will today unveil plans to build a prototype generator that it claims is lighter and cheaper to maintain than existing models.

NGenTec, a spin-out from Edinburgh University, will tell a trade show in Amsterdam that its design could save £1 million per turbine compared with current equipment.

The prototype will be built in Huddersfield at a facility owned by McColl’s David Brown Gear Systems business, which acts as Clyde Blowers’ gears division.

McColl took an equity stake in NGenTec in February through preference shares in return for helping the company to develop its technology.

Amsterdam-based SET Venture Partners and Scottish Enterprise’s co-investment fund each pumped £1m each into the Edinburgh-based company in December, with Derek Shepherd – previously managing director of the international arm of Glasgow-based temporary power supplier Aggreko – joining as chairman.

Makhlouf Benatmane, NGenTec’s chief executive, said: “We are confident that our products are putting us at the leading edge of something truly exciting.

“We are attracting considerable interest from several turbine manufacturers, which operate globally in the onshore and offshore markets. Our location in Scotland and the experience gained in the oil and gas supply chain provide very real benefits to manufacturers.”