Swiss battery manufacturer Leclanché has said it remains committed to the UK market despite the departure of both its UK-facing staff.
Solar Power Portal can reveal that both Lawrie Wilson, UK country manager, and Bobbie Wright, UK account manager, were made redundant from Leclanché in recent weeks, leaving the firm without a boots on the ground presence in the country.
This fuelled speculation that the manufacturer was to exit the UK battery storage market, but Leclanché has reiterated its commitment to the country in a statement issued to SPP.
It confirmed Wilson and Wright’s departures from the business and said that the division would be run from the company’s headquarters in Switzerland in the interim.
“We remain active in the UK, having been selected in 2016 by North Star Solar to supply its TiBox home energy storage system. We are also working with partners in the UK reviewing opportunities to interface grid services software platforms with advanced modular and scalable battery storage infrastructure,” a spokesperson told SPP.
In June last year it was revealed that Leclanché was one of two battery providers selected by North Star Solar to provide systems for a residential solar-plus-storage project involving up to 22,000 homes in Stanley, County Durham.
It said at the time that it was aiming to use the “unprecedented” scheme to deploy battery storage “at scale” in the UK.
Leclanché meanwhile also announced results for the year ended 31 December 2016 this morning, revealing unaudited revenue growth of 56% year-on-year to CHF28 million (£22.2 million) as well as an 85MWh order backlog to be delivered in 2017.
It did however state that it does not expect to guide towards breakeven EBITA for production above 100MWh until 2018.