px Group launches energy solutions unit to help asset operators decarbonise

Infrastructure operator px Group has created a new business line which will support clients in optimising and decarbonising energy assets.

The Stockton-on-Tees headquartered company, which manages major assets including the St Fergus Gas Terminal and the Breagh gas fields, says it will look to bring its 30 years of experience in energy operations and maintenance to businesses of all sizes looking to use energy more efficiently and decarbonise.

The new unit, px Energy Solutions, will leverage the group’s design, engineering, operations, maintenance, digital and energy trading teams in “one full service” aimed at improving customers’ efficiency while reducing costs and their carbon footprint.

This expertise has already been honed and deployed in optimising existing px-run assets – in one example it implemented a cut in greenhouse gas emissions at the St Fergus terminal by more than 450 tonnes of CO2 equivalent through the substitution of a fuel gas purge with nitrogen on a safety critical flare system.

However, the company says the new business line will also look to target smaller energy users than its traditional customer base of large industrials.

Newly appointed managing director for px Energy Solutions, Christine McKie, said the business would aim to be a “one-stop shop” for any business looking to use energy more efficiently, from healthcare to manufacturing, to logistics.

“Businesses know they need to decarbonise; they know that doing so positively affects their bottom lines; but they often need support identifying the best way to do so. That’s where we come in,” she added.

“All of these sectors use huge amounts of energy, but not always efficiently and not always in a way that makes it contribute as best as possible to business performance.”

“What we’ve learned from our research is that many businesses feel overwhelmed when dealing with the larger, more established competitors in the market. We’ll take a more personal approach.”

Ms McKie will be supported by business development director Stuart Metcalfe, who joined px Group from Veolia earlier this year.

The new business will offer four core services – energy optimisation, decarbonisation, energy as a service and digital Transformation – which can be provided individually or as part of a comprehensive package.

px said it would eschew “a one-size-fits-all, sales-first approach” in favour of bespoke solutions.

© Supplied by px Group

The expansion comes as the group looks to position itself as the asset operator of the future, not least at its owned and operated Saltend chemicals park near Hull, the site of a major carbon capture and hydrogen production facility backed by Equinor.

Px Group chief executive Geoff Holmes added: “We have been accelerating both our organic and acquisitive growth, and today’s launch of px Energy Solutions is the next step of the growth strategy.”

It also follows the acquisition of materials handler Fairport Engineering in March, which will enable the group to transport, import and export materials such as fuels and feedstock, as well as products, from industrial plants and large-scale sites, both nationally and internationally.