Renewable Energy Installer December/January 2016 | Page 13

Q&A
Two minutes
with . . .
Silvio Spiess
Innasol
Who are you?
Jim Moore, managing director, Vaillant Group, UK & Western
Europe
What do you do?
I am responsible for driving growth within Vaillant Group’s UK
operation.
Where are you?
Our headquarters and factory are based in Belper, Derbyshire.
How’s business at the moment?
Exciting times are ahead for us. The Vaillant Group has just
launched a new strategy in the UK to drive growth and enable
the business to respond to the needs of specific markets by our
Vaillant and Glow-worm brands focused on specific markets
and targeted customer support.
How could business be better?
As part of the new strategy, we have reflected on the UK
renewables market, which has faced slow growth. In addition,
current demand is for premium brand products. We are
therefore focusing on our Vaillant renewables portfolio for the
UK market. Being part of the international Vaillant brand, we
are better positioned to bring new technologies and products
to the UK, and there are a number of new innovations planned
for next year.
What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received?
The best business advice I can pass on is that business
leadership means you are there to make decisions!
How are you going green?
We think sustainability should run throughout the entire
process, not just be about the performance of our products. Our
award-winning Belper plant uses less energy and water and
creates less waste and carbon emissions than ever before. The
plant has also been zero to landfill since 2011, and has recently
installed PV on the roof.
REI: What have you got planned for 2016?
SS: Innasol has seen considerable success since we
created the business back in 2010. In 2016, as has
been the case in previous years, our aim is to continue
this steady development. We’ll achieve this by
maintaining and developing our world-class training
facility in Essex, increasing our nationwide partner
network in the UK and bringing cutting edge biomass
and heat pump technology to the UK.
What is top of your wishlist from the government?
That’s an easy one! It would have to be a commitment
from the government to continue investing in
renewable heat. At the moment, the government
has pledged support for the RHI until the end of Q1
2016, but has made no announcement beyond then.
As a result, the renewable heating industry is losing
confidence: employers are reticent to further invest in
training and infrastructure, and consumers are wary
of investing in the technology as they’re not sure that
they will receive the agreed financial incentives.
How is your company cutting its carbon footprint?
As a renewable heating business, Innasol’s carbon
footprint is very low indeed. Our headquarters in
Essex runs on a large pellet-fuelled biomass boiler,
which is carbon neutral as biomass boilers use
sustainably sourced wood as their fuel. We also use
a high efficiency air source heat pump to showcase
the benefits of best-in-class renewable heating
technologies.
Silvio Spiess is founder of Innasol Group
www.renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk | 13