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Support from the centre

The Centre is a perfect base for businesses to focus on their low carbon ambitions. It has established a reputation for excellence as a national hub for innovation and collaboration where they can:

  • Access relevant support to enter or grow in the low carbon sector
  • Engage with the Hinkley Point C (HPC) Supply Chain
  • Develop capabilities to secure new contracts
  • Identify wider low carbon opportunities and develop productive new partnerships

The impact so far…

Businesses supported to access low carbon opportunities or grow within the low carbon sector

Collaborative projects

New jobs created

New investors to Somerset

m Kg

Identified potential CO2e carbon savings

£m

Increase of GVA

Case Study

White Feather Coffee Co

A key ingredient of the Somerset Energy Innovation Centre’s success is our thriving café – a place for tenants and guests to meet, collaborate, and enjoy some great local coffee and food.

The White Feather Coffee Co. has been at the Centre since it opened its doors. Proprietor Holly Buckingham had left a full-time job to take her vision of delivering delicious, locally-roasted, coffee on the road. The connections she then formed with companies involved in the Hinkley Supply Chain and the Somerset Larder (a collaboration of local food and drink companies), provided the opportunity to move into the Centre.

Holly made it her mission to serve great locally-sourced food alongside her coffee, and the business has gone from strength to strength. The White Feather Coffee Co. now has 3 cafes and 22 staff members!

"It’s been a fantastic journey working with Holly and seeing The White Feather Coffee Co. grow into a thriving business. Having a café operator that provides a great service to our tenants and business visitors is an essential part of our offer. You never know what new ideas and opportunities to collaborate are sparked when you meet someone for a coffee"

Nick Golding

"Hinkley and other low carbon projects are bringing opportunities to local people and businesses like mine. I’ve gone from being employed to starting a new business and the Centre has helped to make this happen. I’m delighted that we are able to offer locally roasted coffee, locally produced food, and a great atmosphere."

Holly Buckingham

Case Study

Gridimp

Gridimp Ltd is dedicated to solving the complex challenge of smart grids and energy flexibility in the UK. The company makes and supplies automated, user friendly solutions to allow businesses to be part of a smart, clean, network. Gridimp has developed an innovative solution, the impHub, which is core to all its solutions and services. The impHub enables the grid, energy suppliers and market aggregators to automate demand side response and receive real-time data on end customer energy usage.  

Leading the way with its pioneering technology

Gridimp was one of the first tenants to be based at the Somerset Energy Innovation Centre, which provided the company with a dynamic workspace to support its growth and enabled collaboration with local businesses and stakeholders. In 2018 Gridimp installed an impHub at the Centre, which was integrated into the existing Building Management System (BMS). This helped the system to analyse energy consumption and inform intelligent demand side response. The Centre was able to reduce its carbon output, energy costs and increase efficiency. 

The lessons learned from the project are being shared with other organisations, helping them to understand and benefit from new and innovative ways to implement energy control solutions. Gridimp has since grown considerably and has moved into larger premises. The business continues to work closely with the Centre, and has received assistance from the Centre’s  business support programme to review and implement its Integrated Management Systems and be connected through to potential customers for the system.

"The Centre provided us with a great opportunity to have a base in a collaborative environment and to trial our technology. It helped us to learn a lot about energy usage patterns and the potential for an automated approach, and this learning is now able to assist businesses to overcome barriers to improve energy efficiency and diversify revenue streams."

Richard Ryan, Commercial Director, Gridimp

"We are proud that we were able to host and support Gridimp and utilise their unique technology to work smarter and identify more effective energy solutions. This is an excellent example of what the Centre is all about – supporting the development of the low carbon energy sector by working together and helping businesses to continue to grow beyond the tenancy at the Centre."

Nick Golding, Director, SWMAS