Scottish solar firm AES wins EU project backing

A Scottish manufacturer of solar panels is the only company of its kind in Europe to have been selected to work on an EU wide project which will promote the development of renewable technology.

Grant Feasey, senior design engineer at AES Solar. Picture: Marc Hindley

AES Solar based in Forres, Moray, received £250,000 funding to provide its expertise in the design of solar thermal and solar pv systems.

The firm which was established in 1979 and is the longest running solar thermal manufacturer in Western Europe will work alongside other researchers and companies who specialise in other renewable measures in Spain, Italy, Denmark, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Belgium in the Heat4Cool project.

Grant Feasey, senior design engineer at AES Solar, said: “I’m thoroughly enjoying the work on the Heat4Cool project. It is fantastic that we have been selected and are able to contribute our expertise. It’s a real accolade for us that we were the solar company that were selected to represent solar from thousands of companies and researchers in the whole of Europe. It just reaffirms that AES Solar are the experts when it goes to solar installations.”

Grant, who has worked with the firm for six years, has attended one meeting in Brussels and will soon be heading to Bilbao for the next project gathering.

“The purpose of the project is to create a fully integrated system using all the different renewable measures available, making them work together in the best way,” he added. “It means we are working with high level partners across Europe and are networking with top industry players. It will also give us new expertise in other renewable energies and will mean that we can identify more opportunities for the business.

“One of the most exciting parts of the project for us is that will be working on four buildings throughout Europe. Two are actual homes and two are test centres. We will be physically installing systems in these premises to test the technologies we are developing with the other partners on the project. The idea being that by the end of the project there will be one super, fully integrated renewable system that can be replicated across Europe.”