iVolt in the Media

Ralph Scrivens
Energy Manager Magazine Editor

I have known of iVolt and their great work for some time having seen them break into the Voltage Optimisation market in 2011. Their technology is advanced and solid state, uniquely recording the kWh savings in real time through the patented IRT (Intelligent Real Time) function. What I didn’t know however was that iVolt is made by Sollatek, iVolt’s parent company and they have much bigger plans within the energy reduction arena.

I was invited to Sollatek Group’s HQ in Berkshire to see what they have been working on. I am greeted in the boardroom by iVolt’s Sales Director Neil Underwood who goes on to explain their plans.

“It had become clear to me over the last few years that Voltage Optimisation (VO) was in decline. The poor press and emerging technologies such as LED lighting had taken their toll and it’s difficult to get the payback model to work in general office environments that have converted to LED lighting”

“Sollatek have produced LED street lighting for about 10 years so I felt the best strategy would be to propose to the Board that we develop an extended range of LED luminaires for both the interior & exterior of buildings that could initially be sold to iVolt clients but then widened as interest grew. Our first success was a major wholesale group with 170 outlets and we are currently in the first year of a three year programme with them. We have also been able to convince some of our VO partners to use our LED lighting range and these range from Global FM companies such as Bouygues to major energy providers like EDF. As a large amount of our business comes from these companies and their specialism is the Public Sector, we believe we are ideally placed to provide a great solution with two energy reduction technologies. We have won business in NHS Trusts, Special care units & local government education. VO still has a place as it deals with all the motor loads (that are not speed controlled) in a building, add to that our LED lighting and you have a major energy reduction and a compelling business case”

I was shown a brief presentation on how Sollatek do their design process and what investments they have made to ensure their LED products are of the highest quality but at a competitive price. For their fast moving product lines, such as battens and 600×600 panels, all the products are tested 100% optically on line. This ensures that things like colour rendition index, Kelvin rating, Efficacy and power output are all checked before going into a box for shipping. Sollatek’s products are all designed in the UK by a team of highly experienced R & D engineers. They have electrical, electronic, mechanical and firmware engineers. They also have software writers and test engineers.

What really impressed me was the speed that Sollatek have developed this range, in little over a year they have created around 10 product lines with multiple offerings in each. I asked Neil how they did this.

“Sollatek is a global designer and manufacturer of electronic products for both energy and power quality sectors. They have been around over 30 years and over this time have amassed an enormous amount of knowledge of PSU’s (Power Supply) Heatsinks and PCB boards. Basically an LED light is just this, the driver is the PSU and LED chip set is selected from our partners at CREE & Lexistar who are world renown for their quality, we understand about heat dissipation and the PCB board can then be programmed using firmware/software which we have written”. We also use rapid prototyping techniques to produce pre-production products very quickly and get them through a validation process. We have invested in a new ProLumen sphere (spectral analyser) to ensure light performance is consistent”

As I entered the Lighting Application Showroom I was immediately taken by how many products were on display. Neil went through each range from down lighters to various size drop in panels, from high bays to spotlights and floodlights, explaining the power output and the efficacy. Efficacy for those not familiar with the term is the amount of wattage required to illuminate to a certain light (lumen) level. The higher the efficacy the greater the savings will be as it takes less power (watts) to provide the desired light output. Some of Sollatek’s products have as high as 145 lumens per watt, which is remarkable. Sollatek have 3 hour emergency, DALI and 1-10v dimmable in all their ranges with some encompassing in-built PIR/Photocells. All of the luminaires have a standard 5 year warranty and Sollatek also offer a lighting design service using Relux/Dialux software. They have an in-house engineering support team to carry out lighting audits and ensure your project runs smoothly.

After a demonstration of all the luminaires (most of which were mounted and lit), I was given the opportunity to see the R & D department. Neil explained that normally people aren’t shown around these areas, as a lot of work done by the Sollatek Group is for large clients. For example, Sollatek are an OEM supplier to the refrigeration industry and confidentiality is key. As R&D showed me a test procedure, I saw glazed units from a majority of the major drinks companies being tested. R & D is split into 4 areas – electronics, electrical, mechanical and firmware/software. Neil took some time talking through new and upcoming products in the Sollatek range and I was particularly taken by a new design for a lighter street light. Although it was only in prototype stage, its features and benefits left me with a keen interest when it progresses.

I asked Neil how he thought Sollatek would compete in a very crowded market with some established players already in place.

“If you take the Chinese on one end of the price/quality measure and companies such as Phillips & Trilux on the other we sit somewhere in the middle in terms of price and very much closer to Phillips type companies in terms of quality. We can compete because our price point is very attractive; we prefer to pass on all the discount to the end user or client instead of working through wholesalers. Therefore we can offer significant savings. When we were chosen as partner to the Wholesale Group we were measured against two of the largest most established names in the industry and we beat them, not just on price but also on efficacy and overall quality. We do not need to make the margins that lighting companies have traditionally made as Sollatek’s revenues come from 5 divisions but we are still small enough (around 400 staff globally) to act quickly to market conditions and keep developing our product range. We already have several new ranges on the drawing board”

It was clear from my time at Sollatek that they are a very well-resourced engineering group who have invested a considerable amount in developing their LED lighting division. With their principle of design in the UK and manufacturer in one of three global plants they can keep the prices very keen but still maintain a high level of quality. That was one of the things I took away from an interesting day at Sollatek. They have all the tools to provide an extremely compelling case to use their products and I won’t be surprised if we are hearing a lot more about Sollatek’s LED lighting range in the not too distant future.

For more information, please call
01753 214 500 or visit
www.sollatek.com

Tel:	+44 (0) 1753 214 500
Email:	sales@ivoltsystems.co.uk

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