Solar installer A Shade Greener secures capital for expansion programme

A YORKSHIRE company which employs former soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to create 60 jobs after securing backing from a major commercial finance provider.
By The Newsroom
Published 7th Sep 2011, 07:00 BST

GE Capital has agreed a £20m financing deal with the free solar panel installer, A Shade Greener, which is based in Tankersley, near Barnsley.

The credit line facility will help A Shade Greener to expand its portfolio to 4,400 solar installations in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire.

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Around 50 of the 160 staff at A Shade Greener used to be members of the armed services.

The company is one of Britain’s biggest installers of domestic solar panels.

David Rendell, the managing director of green financing at GE Capital EMEA, said: “We are fast expanding into the green sector, demonstrating the increasing breadth of our UK activities.”

Stewart Davies, the chief executive and founder of A Shade Greener, said the company planned to take on 60 extra members of staff in its fitting teams before Christmas. He added: “GE Capital’s team knew as much about solar panels and the industry as we did.”

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By using the Government’s Feed in Tariff (FIT) scheme, A Shade Greener is able to offer its customers free solar panels. In return, A Shade Greener effectively holds a lease on the roof space so that it can benefit from the FIT scheme, which pays a generation tariff of 43.3p per kilowatt hour.

Related topics:YorkshireIraqAfghanistan