The electricity supply required to light its 26,000 sq metres of glasshouses for year-round production is such that the existing supply, would have been over-stretched to service an extra 30,000 sq m of glass to be built this year. And SGP was facing a bill of more than £1 million to upgrade.

However, technical manager David Abbott has found a more cost-effective and environment-friendly solution – a Cummins 1.5Mw gas generator costing £400,000.

The generator will supply sufficient energy to light the existing nursery, but with its heat recovery facility used on a co-generation basis, the electricity will also be obtained at more economical cost. The combined heat and power unit will meet environmental protocols, thereby enabling exemption to be claimed by the company on climate-change levy.

Abbott said: 'The only alternative would have been to use a diesel genset. That would have been far less environment-friendly and, without the heat recovery facility, the cost per kWh of generated electricity would have been at least double that of the gas system, and the use of the diesel engine much more subject to fluctuations in fuel price.'