With offices in Cork and Kerry, Energywise Ireland is Munster’s premier provider of renewable energy solutions, specialising in the design, supply, installation and commissioning of a full range of mechanical, electrical, ventilation, solar PV and automated systems. Building Ireland had a chat with managing director Berth Sheehy to find out more about the full range of products and services offered by this award-winning family-run operation.
With an emphasis on quality products, professional workmanship, outstanding service levels and embracing the latest M&E technologies, Energywise Ireland has within a relatively short period of time developed a stellar reputation as one of Ireland’s most progressive and dependable electrical, mechanical and renewable energy solutions providers, providing a comprehensive range of products and services to both the domestic and commercial sectors, from new builds to retrofits or energy upgrades.
Deploying a strong in-house team of experts across all the disciplines, Energywise is the No.1 port of call in Munster for the design, installation and commissioning of a full selection of cutting-edge renewable energy solutions including heat pumps, underfloor heating, heat recovery ventilation, solar PV and smart home and building automation.
“We have a great array of in house talent in-house from electrical engineers, building service engineers, software engineers, project managers and many others who all contributes to a fantastic team.” notes Berth, who started out as an electrical contractor in 2004 before rebranding as Energywise Ireland five years later, having recognised the huge potential in renewable energy and the undeniable benefits that homes and businesses could gain from adopting such solutions.
Berth runs the business alongside his wife Rosemarie and co-director Darren Vaughan. He knew that by combining electricians, plumbers and building service engineers in one company that Energywise could fill a huge void in the market. Energywise offers customers a one-stop shop solution combining all these services through one dedicated, multi-skilled point of contact.
“We can design the solution exactly how we know things are going to work,” Berth continues. “With Energywise, you are dealing with one company and one project manager, whereas if you deal with separate companies you could have anything from three to six different parties involved, which can obviously make things unnecessarily complicated. This coordinated approach works very well and both home owners and builders like this approach.
Since opening up a showroom and office in North Point Business Park in Cork in September, 2012, Energywise Ireland has enjoyed steady growth, expanding from four employees eight years ago to currently general direct employment for a team of 65. Built on great staff and strong client relationships, reputation and trust, Energywise’s excellence has seen the company recognised at a variety of awards ceremonies. To this end, they were voted Green Energy Company of the Year at the Cork Business Awards in 2017 and ’18, following up with the Energia Tech Family Business of the Year award last year.
TradeCentre
A spin-off company of Energywise – Trade Centre – was established two years ago to supply products to the trade. “It makes life easier for plumbers and electricians who don’t have their own in-house design capabilities as we can design, size and commission the heat pumps on their behalf.”
Energywise Ireland work with global leaders such as Daikin, Mitsubishi, ABB and many more. They are the largest installer of Daikin heat pumps (Europe’s No.1 selling heat pump) in Ireland and are also agents for Wiseair heat recovery ventilation and SoliTek solar panels. They also have their own brand products including app-controlled ventilation systems tailored for the Irish market.
Energywise install heat pump technology to generates heat and hot water. They give fresh filtered air through their heat recovery ventilation systems, produce electricity with solar PV and incorporate energy monitoring into the overall project so that end users can see how their home or building is performing on a daily basis.
All these systems can be tied together through automation such as Knx or AbbFree@home to maximise the efficiency of a building as well as reducing carbon emissions and giving greater comfort and control.
Arguably Energywise’s greatest endorsement of all is the fact that the majority of their work comes from repeat business and customer referrals. No project is ever considered too large, small or complex and they are as comfortable working on a new or existing homes as they are providing solutions at retail units, schools or factories.
“Combining all the services together as part of one package helps keep us competitive,” Berth continues. “We also import a lot of products from across Europe and can pass on a lot of savings to our customers that way, too. We are a premium partner with Daikin and were their No.1 dealer partner in each of the last two years.
The Energywise team are regularly upskilled to ensure that they are kept up to date with innovative new products, technologies and solutions in order to provide clients with the best-possible service, with the stated objective of invariably exceeding expectations while delivering quality and value. Regardless of the size or nature of a project, Energywise are committed to generating personalised, innovative and quality-driven solutions.
Energywise Ireland’s Air-to-water heat pumps, underfloor heating systems, heat recovery ventilation, solar PV panels, aluminium radiators, LED lights, home automation systems and much more can all be examined at their modern showroom in Blackpool, Cork.
Prospective customers can book an appointment to speak with a technician to talk through the different systems and can give advice on any stage of a project from start through to finish.
Berth is keen to stress that Energywise’s winning team plays a central role in the ongoing success and growth of the business. Combining decades of experience with progressive and innovative thinking, the dedicated, motivated, friendly team can design, supply, install and commission bespoke solutions customised to each specific project and can also provide an aftercare package for the annual servicing and maintenance of units, giving peace of mind to customers that their system is operating to its maximum efficiency.
Although there is demand for Energywise’s services nationwide, Energywise are focussing predominantly on the Munster region so they can guarantee the best-possible level of service and aftercare. “We feel that with heat pumps and ventilation systems it’s imperative that you give that back-up service and cover the warranty,” he states. “You need to be able to do this quickly. Also, for commissioning and set-up, it’s important to be as close to your client as possible.
“Back-up service is vitally important and we stand over everything we install. We offer warranty on our equipment and repair all the products ourselves as we have all the necessary expertise in-house. We do get a lot of enquiries from all over Ireland but it’s better to keep it close to home.”
Energywise has come a long way in the past decade or so, to emerge as a proven industry leader in providing domestic and commercial renewable energy solutions, and Berth is confident that there is room for further growth going forward:
“We envisage the solar pv market will continue to grow which is why we set up PvPanels.ie.
“We have a number of solar PV commercial projects coming on stream and this is a part of the market where I can envisage a lot of growth,” he concludes. “The payback on commercial PV is phenomenal.
“There are a lot of factories and commercial properties in this area who could produce their own electricity at a fraction of the price, so why wouldn’t they? With grants factored in, the system could be paid for inside five to seven years and they can then save thousands per year depending on the size of the system installed. There is no commercial solar PV grant available to businesses at the minute but we may secure grants by incorporating Pv it into the SEAI’s community-based schemes.
“Our bestselling PV panels we use are a glass / glass panel and they come with a 30-year product and performance warranty. Because there is glass on both sides – and they are completely sealed – they are ideal for coastal locations in Ireland and extremely durable.”
“While there are great opportunities in solar PV, demand is strong locally for all our products and services, so I definitely think there is scope for further growth across all areas of the business. We’ll remain focussed on giving the utmost attention to detail to every project and looking after all our customers.”
Energywise Ireland Ltd.,
Unit 6,
North Point Business Park,
New Mallow Road,
Blackpool,
Cork.
Tel: 021 430 8185 / 066 401 7028
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.energywiseireland.ie / www.pvpanels.ie / tradecentre.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, January 2021, Vol 7 No 1
