Equalizer Wins EEEGR Innovation Award (UK)

Unique British designed and manufactured smart tools for use in pipeline maintenance stole the show at the EEEGR Energy Innovation Awards at Norwich City Football Club’s Top of the Terrace.

Aberdeen-based Equalizer International took the main award after a competition between nine finalists whose live presentations were assessed by expert judges and a business audience.

Runner-up was SubC’s FlexiCrane, which can quickly and easily be assembled on location at sites where help is needed for easier and simpler movement of tools or materials.

And the Low Carbon Award went to UK Power Networks for its Flexible Plug and Play which help accommodate the increasing demand for connections to the grid from solar farms and onshore wind farms. It has been trialled in the East of England area but is expected to be introduced across the region and potentially nationwide.

Judges also gave a ‘special mention’ to a fourth entry, the TranSPAR prototype designed for rapid deployment from a central hub in the next generation of offshore wind farms, recognising its potential with further development. The concept was introduced by Peter Gifford who had travelled from Canada to make the presentation on behalf of Extreme Ocean and James Fisher (Fendercare).

Johnathan Reynolds, director of Nautilus Associates, who compered the event for EEEGR (the East of England Energy Group), said there had again been a record number of entries for the event with the quality and variety higher than ever. It was part funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

Afterwards, Steve Gerrity, for the winners Equalizer, said that being in the finals offered the opportunity to present a simple idea to a large audience through EEEGR.

Historically, work such as flange alignment on pipelines had often been resolved by ‘crowbar and sledgehammer’ but the Equalizer tools were simple, easy and effective for the cost of ‘a couple of week’s wages’.

“But an innovation is only useful if it becomes commercially attractive to operators so being in the finals was an important as winning – although that was the cherry on the cake.

“Equalizer is a private company built on a simple idea from rigger Graham Stephen. Sadly he died a year ago and I am proud and honoured to be here on his behalf and that of brother Bob who is still a director in the company.

“The concept goes back 20 years and has had success in 40 different countries There has been a reaction in UK and we want to tackle the market with our fourth generation of unique flange alignment tools.” 

Neil Parry, from Esbjerg-based SubC, said they were delighted to see FlexiCrane named runner-up in a competition with such high quality entries and high standards. It was an important recognition in the UK which was a key market for them.

Sotiris Georgiopoulos, from UK Power Networks, said: “We are delighted to have the award for our contribution to the low carbon economy in a strong competition with a lot of good entries.” They had successfully trialled the Flexible Plug and Play with 11 customers to smooth the flow of generated power into the grid. The idea would be spread further afield later this year.

Guest speaker David McNally, chief executive of Norwich City Football Club, drew several parallels between what he called “the wonderful world of energy and the bizarre world of football.”
Both were relentless 24/7 industries and both needed innovative thinking – as had happened with Norwich in the summer of 2009 when they were in League One and ‘bust’, he said.

Both were also involved in a global business but with a major responsibility for their local communities.

And he said he was amazed to hear of the pioneering work of the East of England energy business over 50 years through to the multi-billion pound business it was today. He hinted that Norwich City were keen to establish more partners within the energy world.