This new tech captures wasted power and cuts energy bills 20%
Factories waste vast amounts of electricity every time heavy machinery slows down. This Scottish company says it can capture that lost power and slash energy bills by up to 20%.
IR Power, owned by MWNW Group, has developed a plug-and-play system that captures the electricity industrial machines generate when they decelerate.
In many plants, equipment constantly ramps up and down – presses, conveyors, mixers. Each slowdown produces energy that’s usually wasted as heat. But IR Power’s system, reducERS electricity recycling system, works like regenerative braking in an EV, feeding that captured power straight back into the factory grid for immediate reuse.
How much energy are factories actually wasting?
On large automotive press lines, where clusters of machines cycle roughly every six seconds, the company says its technology can recapture 10-20% of total electricity use. At current UK industrial power prices, that can translate to £50,000 to £100,000 in annual savings per machine cluster.
Energy recovery technology itself isn’t new. But historically, these systems required expensive custom engineering, weeks or months of installation, and often modifications to drive systems. That meant production downtime and high upfront costs. When electricity cost around £50 per megawatt-hour, the payback often didn’t justify the disruption. With prices now closer to £100 to £150 per megawatt-hour, and manufacturers facing binding net-zero commitments, the economics look very different.
Capturing wasted electricity
IR Power says it redesigned both the hardware and the business model to remove those barriers. reducERS connects to machinery’s “exhaust” to capture wasted electricity converted to heat. This energy is stored and can be released into the host machine or the entire factory.
Instead of custom builds that could cost £30,000 to £40,000 or more, the company offers three standardized product sizes meant to cover a range of applications. Installation is designed to take hours, not weeks, and doesn’t require modifying existing machines or shutting down production.
No upfront cost + no payment without savings
The company is also offering the systems under a rental model. Manufacturers pay nothing up front. Monthly payments are based only on measured energy savings. If the system doesn’t generate savings, the customer doesn’t pay.
The equipment is designed to work with drives and motors from any supplier, rather than being locked into one manufacturer. Multiple machines can be connected into a single energy recovery network across a site. If braking energy exceeds the system’s capacity, excess energy is routed to existing waste resistors while the system continues operating.
Why retrofit matters right now
Industrial machines often have 20- to 30-year lifespans, and upgrading drive systems can cost £1 million or more. That makes retrofit solutions more practical in many cases. Because IR Power’s model is structured as an operating expense rather than capital expenditure, it may also be easier for manufacturers to approve internally.
Founder and managing director Richard Bradshaw says the technology has existed for years, but the business model kept it from scaling. He says the company shifted the risk away from customers by eliminating upfront costs and tying payments to proven savings. The equipment is designed to last 15 to 20 years, meaning customers could see more than a decade of net savings after installation.
Commercial rollout begins in 2026
IR Power plans to begin commercial deployments in 2026, starting with press applications in sectors such as automotive and construction materials manufacturing. The company says it intentionally chose different industries to test the technology under varied operating conditions before expanding further.
The potential market includes thousands of machines in the UK across automotive, construction materials, food processing, and other sectors. Target applications are motor-driven machines with frequent start-stop or speed-change cycles, where braking energy is most consistent. International expansion is planned once the model is proven at scale.
Read more: First Solar locks in key perovskite tech with a new Oxford PV deal
If you’re looking to replace your old HVAC equipment, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you’re finding a trusted, reliable HVAC installer near you that offers competitive pricing on heat pumps, check out EnergySage. EnergySage is a free service that makes it easy for you to get a heat pump. They have pre-vetted heat pump installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions. Plus, it’s free to use!
Your personalized heat pump quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here. – *ad
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
