A Mayo lighting company has received a massive investment of €2.5 million from the ESB to help develop the company’s international profile and expand its customer base. SELC, which stands for superior electronic lighting controllers, is chaired and managed by award-winning entrepreneur Sean Noone who operates the business from a state-of-the-art purpose built high tech facility in the Udaras na Gaeltachta business park in Belmullet, where it currently employs 45 people.
The capital is to be used to develop the international business and increase the production capacity of the company. SELC President and Founder, Sean Noone, said: “ The fund’s financial backing and strategic advice will be invaluable as we bring our products to markets around the world”.
Energy Minister Eamon Ryan this week welcomed the investment from ESB Novusmodus, the cleantech and renewable energy fund in SELC Eireann Teo, a developer and manufacturer of energy efficient lighting controls and photocells. ESB plans to halve its carbon footprint within 10 years and become carbon neutral by 2035.
“SELC is an innovative Irish company, developing products that have the potential to establish them as market leaders,” the Minister said. “This €2.5 million investment shows real confidence in their products and ability. The world wants green products and SELC can provide them.
“I’m delighted to see a company from Mayo advancing in the green tech area. With an abundance of natural resources, county Mayo and beyond has the potential to be Ireland’s renewable energy hub. This investment is further evidence of how a local company can help grow the economy as we help the environment. I wish them well.”
ESB Chief Executive, Padraig McManus added; ‘’We believe SELC will become a leading Irish exporter of clean technology’’.
The company manufactures electronic controllers for street lighting which includes ballasts, photocells, communications systems and timeclocks. Its solutions optimise the switching on and off and dimming of street lights by remote monitoring, and can adjust intensity of lighting based on prevailing conditions, in turn enabling the reduction of carbon emissions and energy costs. The company is well placed take advantage of the shift towards efficient street lighting in what is a very large global market, further aided by current environmental legislation in Europe and the US.
SELC’s patented electronic digital ballasts are used in the operation of street lighting in particular and they replace the older technologies which are being phased out in the EU and USA.
They enable cities and councils to dramatically reduce both carbon emissions and energy costs by controlling the lamps more efficiently and allowing for the remote monitoring and dimming of lights.
A huge market still remains to be tapped by SELC whose products already feature on more than 93 million street lights in the EU and which are also suitable for warehouses, car parks and industrial sites, which alone account for around 145 million installations per year.
SELC Ireland Limited was established in 1982 to develop a range of reliable and sophisticated public lighting control products and accessories.
CEO of Údarás na Gaeltachta, Pádraig Ó hAoláin, which has supported SELC since it’s establishment, said “This investment by ESB Novusmodus is further recognition of the fact that innovation is at the heart of SELC’s business and will sustain the company’s business into the future by allowing it to grow its international business and increasing its production capacity.”
