Tourmakeady company hoping to create 30 jobs

Tourmakeady company hoping to create 30 jobs


Michael Duffy

A TOURMAKEADY-based company, which claims to produce the world’s most efficient solar panels, hopes to be in a position to create 30 new jobs over the next two years.
Surface Power, which is located in the Údarás Industrial Park in the Gaeltacht village, plans to create the new jobs through the launch and international distribution of its new breakthrough product.
John Quinn, the company founder, estimates that the product, which has undergone six years of development and testing, has the potential to reduce domestic and commercial hot water bills by up to 70 per cent if insulation standards meet new building regulations.
“We believe that having a very good product result will help drive growth and jobs for the company in 2009. The market for the solar collector was worth in excess of one billion dollars  in 2008 and has grown by 300 per cent since 1998. We received over 400 enquiries from the USA alone last month after the specifications were released during the Christmas period. We also expect the international home renovation market to be very strong during the next three years, as our collector is the only pre-packaged vacuum collector on the world market. This leads to quicker, simpler and cheaper installations” said Mr Quinn.
Independent Certification by TUV Rhineland – the world’s leading testing house – has shown that when compared to other leading solar panels, the Irish developed panel was in one case as much as 131 per cent more efficient in morning and evening time and 76 per cent more efficient at midday.
“Our solar panel has been compared to 52 other collectors which hold the prestigious Solar Keymark certification and the results of the comparative testing are excellent. The biggest difference that was achieved in comparison results was that against flat plate collectors. It is great to see the end of a product development cycle and a huge spike in enquiries from the renovation market in Europe and USA, we have several more products in development and plan to release one per year. ”
Outlining the benefits of using the solar panel, Mr Quinn said the solar panel is a hot water type designed specifically for the retrofit market although it is perfectly suitable also for new builds. 
“It was designed to deal specifically with Irish climatic conditions such as wind, rain and cloud. Solar hot water can be used in domestic homes and commercial applications such as shower rooms, hotels and swimming pools. It may be classified as new technology and simpler to use and install but it is not more expensive to produce. Its cost per kw is its biggest advantage while it can generate up to 70 per cent savings on hot water bills, when coupled with an insulation upgrade. We can reduce the cost of achieving a solar installation by 50 per cent when measured against efficiency.”
Established in 2003, Surface Power is targeting key world export markets for renewable commodity products. The Údarás na Gaeltachta and Enterprise Ireland-backed firm has played a central role in the development of the domestic renewable sector, especially micro generation. The company is also backed by Aer Arann founder Pádraig Ó Céidigh.