NEW technology bidding to help developing countries with little to no electricity was unveiled in Andover at a special event.

Arensis swung open the doors to its specialist equipment on Wednesday, July 11, to offer those in the biomass industry an insight into its future plans.

The company went into partnership with former operator and wood pellet distributor Verdo Renewables last year, but it has now begun exploring its vision to work with other raw materials.

Experts in the sector were told about the company’s plan to work with agricultural and food waste and plastics to allow their machines and in the future houses to run on the excess material.

Chief operations officer Stuart Banks said: “Plastic for me would be the ultimate end for me. There is that much plastic globally and nobody knows what to do with it.

“There is a lot of background to plastic and it is polluting the oceans so for me this is almost the end game for us.”

One company which are already backing the technology is Mozambique Renewables which is planning to take the technology to Africa to provide electricity for those living in developing countries.

Director Ali Divani said: “We have to take these machines into Africa, they are meant for Africa as we can use the local leftover stock from poor farmers and we pay them for their cotton and use it to provide electricity for them.”

At first the business is looking to take over two units but if it is a success then they plan to increase the number available.

The technology is set to also provide new jobs for Andover, with plans to expand the site’s capabilities and install around £20 to £30million-worth of equipment.

It is expected that technical staff will first be brought onto the site to install the equipment.

“Going beyond that it will generate technical staff for the maintenance and the upkeep and the service of that equipment, rather than having Liverpool staff at the service centre migrate all over the country it is better to localise,” Mr Banks added.

“I would rather use indigenous staff - it is a better way to run. There is more of a sense of dealing about the business and it drives a lot more passion and a lot more motivation if it is local jobs for local people.

“I am excited to see this site develop but I’m also excited to see this site have a future.”