Express & Star

JCB Hixon plant secures £10m deal

JCB's generator factory at Hixon has secured a deal worth £10 million to supply an alternative electricity generating firm.

Published
Celebrating the £10m deal: from left, Tom Harada (AGR), John Collier (AGR), Darren Bailey ( APE), Oliver Breidt (AGR), JCB Power Products MD Jonathan Garnham and JCB Power Products sales director Philipp von Arnim.

The deal is the company's first major entry into the gas powered generator sector.

The iconic Staffordshire company, better known for its bright yellow diggers, runs its gas-powered generator business from a site at Hixon Airfield Industrial Estate near Stafford.

JCB Power Products says it has been enjoying growing success supplying generators to a wide range of applications.

Now the company has announced it is to supply 34.5 Megawatts of gas-powered generator sets to leading alternative electricity generating company AGR Group – the largest deal of its kind for JCB.

The generator sets would be enough to provide electricity to power the equivalent of 17,500 homes for 24 hours.

JCB Power Products' managing director Jonathan Garnham said: “We are proud to have secured the business with the AGR Group and are delighted to be working in partnership with them to develop our first major gas project.

“This agreement signals an exciting new market opportunity for JCB and the company is working to further develop its product line and service offering in the UK’s alternative power generation market. JCB Power Products continues to deliver an expanding range of power generation solutions, to ensure that customers in all markets can benefit from reliable power supplies.”

The generators will be installed across five sites in England and will include 2.5MW and 2MW generators supplied as both open models and those operated within containers.

AGR director Oliver Breidt said: “We are very happy to be working with JCB on these projects and have been impressed by their flexible approach, moving quickly to make the most of this exciting market opportunity. We look forward to jointly delivering these projects with JCB and are looking into exploring more opportunities together.”

The AGR Group specialises in sustainable, low carbon energy generation for communities and businesses and since 2011 has delivered projects worth £250 million across the UK. With experience in solar and wind power, the company has diversified into complementary power supply, using gas-powered generators.