A rapidly growing North East engineering and management services consultancy has fast-tracked its UK expansion by winning a contract to work on a multi-million-pound energy scheme.
Stockton-on-Tees-based Encora Energy is part of a team that has successfully commissioned a gas-fired peaking plant in Boston, Lincolnshire. Often known as “peakers”, they are power plants that generally run only during periods of high demand for electricity, in order to balance the grid.
Now under operation, the 6MW plant represents an investment of around £5 million across its 15-year lifespan and will help to bolster Britain’s energy security – a key concern in recent times with the conflict in Eastern Europe sending wholesale gas prices soaring and reducing supplies of gas from Russia into Europe.
The Boston project is also worth a six-figure sum of work for Encora Energy and has enabled the company to fast-track its expansion across key UK regions, including North East England, Lincolnshire and Norfolk. It has also allowed the company to strengthen its rapidly growing team of staff, with the latest recruit, Mark Waller, joining as Operations Coordinator.
In his new role, Mark will be responsible for driving forward the commissioning of gas peaking plants in other strategic UK locations. Prior to joining Encora Energy, he gained valuable experience during a 14-year career within the defence, petrochemical storage and process industries.
Mark said: “My previous posts of work flow manager and operations coordinator on top tier COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards) sites have given me the foundation needed to succeed with Encora. My main role is having overall operational responsibility for the day-to-day management of all Encora sites with assistance from operations engineers – something I’m relishing and excited to be a part of.”
Andrew Normand, Business Development Director at Encora Energy, said: “As we transition to a green future, we need to ensure that we have sufficient supplies of electricity when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine. These peaking plants can fill this gap and provide vital supplies in periods of high demand for electricity.
“Mark’s vast experience will be vital to us as we continue our UK expansion by working on more of these gas peaking projects.”
On behalf of its clients, Encora Energy manages the operations and maintenance of eight “peaker” sites with more than 50MW of capacity. The company’s work on these projects has been wide-ranging, from identifying suitable sites and overseeing the construction phase to helping plant owners extract optimum value from the plants once operational.
Encora Energy provides project development, engineering, consultancy and operations management services to customers, helping them deal with the practicalities of developing, installing, operating and maintaining new energy systems such as renewable and battery storage systems, combined heat and power (CHP) plants, fuel cells, gas engines and gas turbines. The company also acts as UK and European agents for UptimeAI, providing cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for the process industries.
For more information, visit https://www.encora.energy/ or Encora Energy’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encora-energy-limited/