YORKSHIRE wind turbine specialist Earthmill has announced a major diversification into the rapidly growing combined heat and power renewable energy market.

The £13 million turnover Earthmill business was launched in Wetherby in 2009 by managing director Steve Milner and has grown to become the UK’s biggest supplier of wind turbines to farmers and landowners.

The firm now has more than200 turbines across the UK, with offices in Yorkshire and service and technical teams throughout the country.

It is now entering the combined heat and power (CHP) market, which uses technology to heat sustainable fuel such as woodchip to produce a flammable gas.

The clean-burning ‘biogas’ is then used as fuel in a gas engine to drive a generator and produce electricity.

Mr Milner said: "We were one of the pioneers of farm-scale wind power in the UK, and since then we have been staying close to all emerging technologies.

"This is the first time we have seen a clean power technology that is sustainable and proven to deliver the same long-term returns on investment and operational benefits we saw in the wind sector several years ago."

Earthmill’s announcement of its diversification into CHP follows more than a year of research and negotiation with leading technology suppliers. The venture will formally launch its offering, Earthmill CHP, at the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate this week.

Earthmill will become the first installer in the North of England, and the first in the UK to offer a customer co-operative for fuel buying and energy sales into the national grid, maximising operators’ profits.