Smart battery systems maker Verlume is increasing its headcount on the back of a reported tenfold rise in orders.
The Bridge of Don-based firm, which specialises in energy management and storage technologies, said the ‘significant’ growth to its orderbooks will help it reach its target to deliver a planned 400% increase in revenue for the financial year.
It comes amid growing interest in its remote subsea power and battery solutions across several key markets including offshore wind, subsea monitoring, and offshore charging.
The company is currently comprised of a 30-strong team ranging from electrical, electronic, software and mechanical engineering expertise, as well as wider business functions such as project management and HR.
The uptick in commercial sales has prompted further recruitment drive, with seven roles currently open within the business.
Those sales include a significant contract win with generator RWE, which will see the company engineer and integrate its Halo subsea battery energy storage systems, equipped with Axonn intelligent energy management technology.
These will then be deployed at the 760MW OranjeWind project in the Dutch North Sea.
© Supplied by VerlumeIn addition, Verlume has won work supplying three of its ‘Charge’ battery systems – rechargeable batteries suitable for challenging locations – for bespoke subsea monitoring applications. A new business stream for Charge rental systems is also in development, with units now being built following the company’s first rental order.
Looking to next year, the company is developing new offshore charging stations which can be powered by renewable energy and used by wind farm maintenance vessels and autonomous underwater vehicles.
Two separate demonstration projects for these systems are scheduled for 2024.
Chief executive Richard Knox said: “These recent contract wins demonstrate the success of our strategy and continued growth at pace, in line with our company mission.
“We are excited to begin our journey in the offshore wind sector with RWE at OranjeWind and see this as a key growth market, both from the larger energy storage use cases, as well as the potential to decarbonise operations and maintenance activities. Thank you to the team at RWE for their support to date.
“We are also experiencing a strong pipeline of enquiries for our Charge offering and are delighted to be supplying units for sale, as well as developing the rental market. With a sales order book that is still growing, we are looking forward to further milestones for the business in the rest of the financial year.”
The company’s stellar year follows considerable success at the Renewables for Subsea Power (RSP) demonstrator currently underway off Orkney.
The £2 million project kicked off in February this year with the deployment of a Blue X wave energy device deployed off the islands’ east coast and paired with an underwater battery developed by Verlume.
A key objective of the project was to demonstrate that the system could provide power to subsea electronics modules, provided by Baker Hughes, simulating the control and communications needed for subsea wellheads using 100% renewable energy.
With the initial four-month trial deemed a success, the systems will now remain in the water until spring 2024, enabling further data to be captured on maintainability, survivability and reliability.
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