Mounting Systems Post Record Sales Of 204 MW In 2014
Mounting Systems, a global supplier of racking systems for solar power plants, has revealed its UK sales volumes for the first time.
The company, which is owned by German industrial group Nordwest Industrie Group (NWI) and has its UK offices in London, sold enough racking systems last year to support 204MWp of new British solar power generation capacity, equivalent to the needs of 55,000 homes. This was eleven times the volumes the company supplied in 2013 to the UK, and required 3,670 tons of recyclable aluminum, enough to manufacture around 25,000 European cars.
In both ground-mount and rooftop segments, Mounting Systems outperformed the UK market in 2014. Sales of systems for the booming solar farm market rocketed fifteen-fold (1500%) against 137% growth in the wider market. Meanwhile Mounting Systems' on-roof systems, which were only recently accredited by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS 012), also outperformed, leaping 120 percent year-on-year, compared with 11% growth in the market.
Stefan Spork, Managing Director, Mounting Systems, explains: "Large amounts of capital flowed to big solar farm developments last year, and there was pressure on developers to complete projects quickly. This meant Mounting Systems' lightweight aluminum frames were attractive as they are quick to assemble. We also grew quickly in rooftops, ten times faster than the market, and this year will be even stronger after the takeover of HatiCon."
Mounting Systems acquired on-roof specialist HatiCon from Norwegian aluminum giant Sapa in January. HatiCon had its own distribution network in the UK, which is now in the process of being combined with Mounting Systems'.
Julian Moeller, Senior UK Manager, Mounting Systems, said: "The outlook in 2015 in Britain is overall positive. Mounting Systems has a strong and growing pipeline in sub-5MW solar farms, and will shortly launch a new product portfolio to respond to developers and EPCs' specific needs in that market. In larger rooftops and multi-residential installations, a boom this year would not surprise us, so we expect more overall market share gains in 2015 and 2016."
