HEAT battery pioneer Sunamp has achieved a breakthrough in the Chinese market which it expects to result in a multi-million pound boost to sales.
East Lothian-based Sunamp has signed an agreement to work with distribution company Thumos to grow sales of its batteries in China. The batteries can be used to store energy so it can be released when needed, for heating, cooling and for hot water.
Sunamp said the agreement is expected to lead to £50 million in sales for the company over the next five years and to the establishment of a factory to manufacture its products in China.
It said the partners have already committed to work together to roll out 400 heat batteries into high-end apartments in Shanghai and into a large pipeline of projects across China.
READ MORE: Heat battery developer wins vote of confidence from leading US entrepreneur
Sunamp chief executive Andrew Bissell underlined the significance of the deal, in view of the potential size of the Chinese market.
“Ahead of the United Nations climate summit, China’s State Council declared the share of non-fossil fuels in the country’s energy consumption will increase to 25 per cent by 2030, that’s nine percentage points higher than it was in 2020,” said Mr Bissell.
“Our products have a role to play in that transition by increasing the efficiency of renewables.”
Sunamp’s batteries could be used to store the weather-dependent output of windfarms and the like.
The company has won business in 17 countries, including orders for small installations in China, and recently opened its first factory under licence in Korea. It has won backing from overseas players including Japanese utility Osaka Gas.
Mr Bissell started developing Sunamp in 2005, after the Voxar medical imaging business he span out of the University of Edinburgh was sold to Belgium’s Barco for £23m.
A leading US technology entrepreneur, Hank Torbert, became chairman of Sunamp in May.
The company achieved £5m turnover last year. It employs around 55 people.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel