Glen Dimplex, one of the world's largest electrical heating business, announced a €40 million investment in what is its second research and development facility in county Louth in the last three years.
The chairman and CEO of Glen Dimplex, Sean O’Driscoll, said that the new facility is at what was previously a manufacturing facility, “but where we ceased manufacturing in 2008.”
The company has invested significantly in new technologies and the Taoiseach Enda Kenny travelled to Dunleer, just off the M1 motorway in Louth, to formally open the new facility this morning.
The new facility is focusing on what the company calls “smart electric heating technologies of the future”, and will see its workforce increase by 25 to 75 in the coming year.
At its existing R&D facility, also in Dunleer, the company will continue to work on renewable heating technology.
Fifty per cent of Irish homes use oil central heating systems and the company says its new technology is targeting this market. Replacing them with its A class “Air Source High Temperature Heat Pump”, can reduce the average energy bill for a home by up to €1,000.
The company said it is positioning itself as a provider of renewable electric heating solutions for what it termed the “rapidly changing electricity environment,” as there is a global move away from carbon based energy.
“The world’s energy sector is where the telecommunications and IT industries were 25 years ago, which is at the beginning of a transformational journey,” Mr O’Driscoll said, adding that the company is committed to innovation in renewable electric heating technologies.
The company has also announced that it is collaborating on a major R&D project called Enernet Ireland which will focus on Smart Electric Thermal Storage (SETS) systems and will look at the potential economic benefits for Ireland of the technology. Its partners in the project are Intel, EirGrid, ESB networks, SSE/Airtricity and the Energy Institute at UCD.
