The roof of a Llansamlet factory that cuts and welds steel for power stations, refineries and ships is being covered in solar panels.
Afon Engineering is fitting 699 of them to its plant on Camffwrd Way, a 329-kilowatt system its managing director says will take about 60 tonnes of carbon a year out of an energy-hungry business and cut the bills enough to repay the £250,000 cost in four years.
Most of the money, £200,000, is borrowed from the Development Bank of Wales under its Green Business Loan Scheme, with the firm putting in the rest.
What Afon makes, and who it wants to sell to
The company has been on Swansea Vale since it was founded in 1979, rolling, pressing, cutting and welding heavy steel plate into components and structures for the oil and gas, power, marine, hydrogen and renewables industries.
Its newest target is nuclear. Afon exhibited at the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris last November and, the following week, at the Rolls-Royce SMR supplier conference. A day after that, Wylfa on Anglesey was confirmed as the first UK site for three Rolls-Royce small modular reactors, with the company promising “an enduring supply chain” and an average of almost 8,000 jobs a year during the build.
Whether any of that steel gets rolled in Llansamlet is a question for later; the firm has put itself in the room.
Managing director Jason Thomas said the panels were the next step for a business that had spent 18 months investing in new equipment and productivity. “As an energy-intensive manufacturer, reducing our carbon emissions makes environmental sense, but it also helps us become more efficient and competitive,” he said. “It’s an investment that will benefit the business for many years to come.”
From family firm to buy-in
Afon was run by the Beaujean family for 45 years, founder Tony passing it to his sons Carl and Andrew, until a management buy-in in late 2024 put it under new ownership. That deal was backed by £2.5m of loans and equity from the Development Bank, and brought in Thomas, formerly of Teddington Engineered Solutions in Llanelli, alongside Julian Vance-Daniel, founder of Vessco Engineering in Bridgend.
The firm employed more than 50 people then, according to the bank; it says more than 60 now, many from the surrounding area.
Mark Halliday, the Development Bank’s investment executive on the deal, said the bank’s involvement “began with the acquisition that secured the future of the business” and that the solar loan showed “how the right finance can unlock the next stage of growth”.
The loan scheme
The Green Business Loan Scheme is funded by the Welsh Government and the Development Bank and lends between £1,000 and £1.5m at discounted rates for energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects, with funded energy audits alongside. In June it lent £2m to Griffiths Waste Management for a new sorting plant at Llangyfelach.
The bank, set up in 2017 to replace Finance Wales, says it has invested more than £1bn in over 5,000 Welsh businesses.
The system has been installed, and Thomas and Halliday were photographed on the roof among the panels this month.
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