Willis Renewable Energy Systems

ONE of Northern Ireland's oldest family businesses is still leading the way in its field with a new invention that is set to revolutionise the global solar water heating industry.

Belfast company Willis Heating & Plumbing Co. Ltd., established by William Willis in 1887, is most famous for the invention of the Willis Immersion Heater which became an essential feature of virtually every household in Northern Ireland during the 1960s & 70s.

Now the company, under the leadership of managing director and fourth generation family member John Willis, has developed a new solar water heating system that it claims will be the biggest industry breakthrough since the Willis Immersion Heater - the Willis SolaSyphon.

As oil prices continue to rise and the global drive to reduce Co2 emissions gathers pace, solar water heating has become the fastest growing sector of the market.

The Willis SolaSyphon represents a major change in the way that solar thermal panels produce hot water and is set to reduce home water heating bills by up to 50 per cent and installation costs by up to 30 per cent.

On top of this, the SolaSyphon is much more eco-friendly and produces hot water considerably more quickly per hour of sunshine than any other system on the market.

Willis managing director John Willis explains how the company's latest invention came about.

"It is vital that the renewable energy industry rises to the challenges presented by global warming and identifies new and innovative ways to provide efficient and cost effective methods of harnessing and delivering renewable energy to every household at an affordable price," said John.

"In recent years, Willis has become increasingly involved in renewable energy but, during this time, we identified a number of problem areas and looked at finding a solution to those problems."

"To date, installing a solar thermal panel system requires replacing the existing hot water storage cylinder with a twin coil solar cylinder. This means that the existing hot water tank has to be scrapped which is a huge waste of the precious natural resource of copper. Add to this, the copper required for the new cylinder, the pipework alterations and the man hours required to carry out the work and you get some measure of the waste," he added.

"We estimate that somewhere between 2000 and 3000 solar panel systems will be installed in Northern Ireland alone this year and if you pro rata these figures up for Great Britain, Ireland, Europe and beyond, you can appreciate the scale of the problem."

"We came up with the idea of using the principals of thermosyphonic action to create a simple 'bolt-on' heat exchange unit, similar in concept to the immersion heater, which would heat the water in a customer's existing cylinder and remove the necessity to replace the hot water storage cylinder."

"It can be used in new installations or retro-fitted to existing installations and starts producing usable hot water within minutes of sun shining on the solar panel, rather than several hours using existing technology."

"As with all the best inventions, it was to us a simple idea and within two days we had constructed a working prototype which in terms of performance actually exceeded our expectations," enthused John.

"Quite simply, we found that we had invented a one size fits all' product that is a significant improvement over anything currently available on the market and will have a major impact on the global solar thermal industry."

"In summary, the Willis SolaSyphon will reduce the cost of installation and home water heating bills, provide hot water quickly and efficiently, cut out wastage in terms of copper and labour, and also minimise the risk of upsetting your existing plumbing system - which can occur when you replace the existing cylinder with a new solar cylinder."

A report carried out by the University of UIster (Dr Mervyn Smyth and Dr Jayanta Deb Mondol) confirmed that the Willis SolaSyphon consistently outperformed existing twin coil solar cylinder technology across a range of tests.

Then, with the prototype fully operational, leading brand development company Slater in Holywood were brought in through the Invest Northern Ireland Design Development Programme to give it a makeover and transform it into a product that customers would like to have in their homes.

Now the company is preparing to market the Willis SolaSyphon using established agents throughout the UK, Ireland, Europe and the World.

"We estimate sales of approximately 1,000 units in our first year rising to approximately 6,000 within three years, but the potential is unlimited in a worldwide context," said John Willis.

"It's a case of the right invention at the right time, and it's a very exciting time for our company. We'd like to thank all those who have helped us in getting to this stage, including Invest Northern Ireland, The Carbon Trust and Action Renewables," he concluded.

In Northern Ireland, grants of up to £1,125 are currently available towards the cost of installing a household solar thermal heating system.