NIE Powerteam secures £2m in contracts

A Northern Ireland based high voltage power contractor, NIE Powerteam, has secured two major contracts worth £2 million that will create up to 50 new jobs.

The two orders, when combined with other ongoing contracts, will lead to an additional 50 jobs, secure employment for 1,000, and protect existing jobs at the company.

The first external contract worth £1.2 million will underpin vital electricity transmission services in the North West of the province. The second contract worth £800,000, one of the largest to be undertaken by an external contractor, was awarded by the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) to construct a major 220kV transmission sub station in Cork. This project is latest in a series of major plant and overhead line projects that the ESB has awarded to NIE Powerteam in the last 18 months.

Commenting on the announcement Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Ian Pearson, said: "It is good to see that NIE Powerteam is taking advantage of the increasingly de-regulated electricity market and I welcome these successes.

"The creation of 50 high quality, skilled engineering jobs and the consolidation of many more is good news."

Laurence MacKenzie, NIE Powerteam Managing Director, announced the deals at a recent hospitality event held at the Hilton Hotel and Golf Complex in Templepatrick.

He said: "New opportunities are emerging for NIE Powerteam with the Electricity Supply Board and GB based regional electricity companies. In fact, just this week two Powerteam crews were drafted in to help restore electricity supplies in England and Wales following the recent storms.

"These contracts haven't just come our way. We have strategically planned for this success. There is nothing stopping us from being the best electrical utility contracting company in the British Isles."

NIE Powerteam constructs and maintains the distribution and transmission systems across Northern Ireland. In recent years the company has also focused on opportunities external to the province.

The company was established by Viridian Group in 1999 to promote competition between contractors bidding for refurbishment work on the NI electricity network.

(SP)