Christchurch manufacturer Whisper Tech has secured an agreement worth over NZ$300 million to supply tens of thousands of its revolutionary ‘personal power stations’ to the United Kingdom.

Each unit, called a ‘WhisperGen’, is designed to be installed in a house and runs on natural gas. The size of a domestic dishwasher, the WhisperGen heats water and simultaneously generates electricity (a process known as ‘micro CHP’). The hot water produced is sufficient to heat a family home through a network of water filled radiators.

The multi-million dollar agreement, which includes an immediate manufacturing order worth NZ$10 million, is with E.ON UK – the company that runs Powergen, the UK’s second largest energy retailer with almost nine million electricity and gas customer accounts. E.ON UK’s parent company in Germany is the world’s largest investor-owned energy company.

The WhisperGen technology is based on a 200-year old design concept called a Stirling engine which has traditionally proved very difficult to produce on a commercial basis. Years of research, product development, patent applications and market testing by Whisper Tech have now culminated in a design that is suitable to be mass produced as an affordable household appliance. Whisper Tech has attracted international attention for its work and is a world leader in micro CHP.

The UK market has always been a prime target for Whisper Tech. Key reasons include the widespread distribution of natural gas and that most UK homes have a boiler linked to water filled radiators. E.ON’s customer research indicates that the WhisperGen is attractive to consumers because it is highly efficient, can generate electricity and it lowers the overall power bill for an average UK home by NZ$450-600 a year. Because of its high efficiency, the WhisperGen also has major environmental benefits, including reducing carbon dioxide emissions by one to two tonnes per household per year. E.ON, through its Powergen brand, has been trialling the WhisperGen for five years and is so pleased with the results that it has negotiated exclusive rights to market the WhisperGen in Britain and is rolling out the units over the next five years.

Peter Westwood, general manager of Powergen Home Energy Services, said: “We’ve been working with Whisper Tech to perfect micro CHP technology for a number of years and we’re extremely excited to be leading the UK in this field. “Over the coming years, the home energy services sector will become an integral part of Powergen’s business and WhisperGen will form a crucial part of that. It’s tremendously rewarding to be in the position to offer Powergen’s domestic customers the option of this unique and revolutionary cost-effective and environmentally friendly technology.”

According to Whisper Tech general manager Bill Highet, the WhisperGen has the potential to revolutionise power supply options for the home market. “Just as most homes these days have a personal computer, we believe it will become equally commonplace for homes to have their own personal power station.” Bill Highet describes the E.ON order as ‘just the beginning’. “The potential is enormous – in the UK alone there are over 12 million homes that are ideally suited for micro CHP.”

He says there is also huge potential for Whisper Tech to make sales in other countries. “We’re finalising deals in several other European countries but at an international level the full potential of the WhisperGen can’t be fully realised until we’re mass manufacturing. One thing that is certain – the WhisperGen represents serious competition for the six million domestic boilers sold in Europe each year.” Whisper Tech will undertake initial low volume manufacturing at its Christchurch plant, but parts of the manufacturing process will increasingly transition to third parties.

“We expect it will take three to four years to evolve from Whisper Tech’s current small scale manufacturing set-up to an international mass manufacturing operation suited to E.ON’s requirements,” says Bill Highet. “This will involve a structured international search and will probably see the WhisperGen being produced by international partners involved in engine and other high volume manufacture.” Job numbers at Whisper Tech will remain around the current level of about 100.

“It’s our expectation that research and development will remain in Christchurch producing prototypes of new products and ongoing refinements to the WhisperGen,” Bill Highet says.

“E.ON’s order has secured Whisper Tech’s future. It’s been a huge boost for our staff and is the ultimate recognition that their work is world class and that they’ve all had a part to play in developing a product that’s revolutionary.

“We’re also very pleased to finally deliver some returns to our major shareholders, Orion New Zealand Limited and Meridian Energy Limited” says Bill Highet. “Orion in particular has backed us financially for 10 years and their support has been critical to our success.

They own 47% of Whisper Tech and are themselves owned by the Christchurch City, Selwyn and Banks Peninsula District Councils – so the ultimate benefactors of any profits Orion receives long term are actually ratepayers throughout central Canterbury.”