ActionZero led by former IDA Regional Development chair Denis Collins plans 80 new jobs and expands in Cork.
ActionZero, the result of a merger between longstanding firms Energy Services and Straightline Energy Solutions, is creating 80 new jobs as it plans to help businesses reduce their carbon footprint.
“We are in the business of decarbonising heat,” says CEO Denis Collins, a former global executive with IBM and previous board director of IDA Ireland and chair of IDA Regional Development.
“Many businesses, especially those in the food sector, have complex requirements and are paying through the nose for many different types of systems across multiple locations and are using up a lot of electricity”
The climate action solutions company based in Munster, is creating and deploying ground-breaking, self-funding solutions to decarbonise heat across industrial, enterprise and consumer global markets.
ActionZero this week launched its new office at Penrose Dock in Cork.
Scaling while cutting carbon footprints
ActionZero CEO Denis Collins with the Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath, TD
The company has grown significantly in the last two months and has doubled its workforce in that time. It now expects to grow to a workforce of 100 in three years from 10 at the start of the year.
ActionZero currently has staff based in Cork and Kerry, with sales staff deployed throughout the island of Ireland.
Speaking with ThinkBusiness, ActionZero CEO Densi Collins said that the business is strongly positioned to play a leading role in Ireland’s transition to a decarbonised economy over the forthcoming decade.
It focuses on technologies and services dedicated to decarbonising heat. The company has developed a patented turnkey technology called the EscoPod which generates heat in a process that eliminates fossil fuel. In particular, it offers a solution for difficult and costly to decarbonise high temperature heat across a range of market sectors. The technology is integrated with an analytics platform which uses data to optimise efficiency and report on the transition to green, renewable energy.
“Many businesses are still relying on fossil fuel systems to keep their premises functioning. Many businesses, especially those in the food sector, have complex requirements and are paying through the nose for many different types of systems across multiple locations and are using up a lot of electricity.
“We are here to help those businesses get their energy in a much more environmentally friendly and cost-efficient way and ultimately decarbonise their businesses.
“What we do is help those businesses to remove the old burners, replace them with heatpump technology and then give them the systems to intelligently manage that through our software and tell a very clear story about how much carbon they’ve managed to remove.
“Our blended engineering and technology makes the platform for heating and cooling even better than what current heatpump technology can do.”
Collins explained that the platform created by ActionZero helps businesses eradicate their dependence on fossil fuels as well as reduce their electricity costs.
Looking to the future the business is investigation hydrogen technology and bringing it to market within the next five years.
ActionZero is at an advanced stage of negotiations with a number of companies looking to deploy the new technology, which will enable their facilities to become fossil fuel free.
The business recently announced a €15m Green Partnership with leading Irish food company Kepak Group. The multi-million-euro project will be delivered in Kepak’s Athleague, Co Roscommon facility, with plans to roll out the technology across the Kepak group. The initial project with Kepak is worth €2.3m and is expected to grow to a value in excess of €15m over 10 sites, in the next two years as the technology is rolled out across the group.
The jobs investment and expansion in Cork was welcomed by Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath, TD.
“ActionZero is growing at a significant pace and this is testament to the dedication and skills of their CEO and team. It is fantastic to see them create such significant employment in Ireland and I wish them the very best with their future plans.
“Reducing our emissions is a key commitment of this Government as set out in the Climate Action Plan. Innovators like ActionZero will help provide solutions for industry and ensure that we are moving in the right direction to meet our emission reduction targets,” McGrath said.
