A renewable energy company based in Derry, which currently has a workforce of six, announced yesterday that it is to recruit another 200 staff over the next three years, 110 of them within the next 12 months.
B9 Energy Biomass, which develops energy conversion technology for the renewable sector sector, has just won a contract to supply London's biggest housing association, the Peabody Trust, with an energy efficient building design.
"We are supplying all their heat and electricity needs from wood-fuelled combined heat and power units manufactured locally and we start installation and commissioning in London in September," said Ms Debra Jenkins, managing director of B9 Energy Biomass.
"As well as the contract in London, we are also in the process of supplying units for similar projects in Scotland and in the Republic.
"We hope to break into the European marketplace with a deal with a very large company. All of our products will be made in Northern Ireland but one drawback is that the required engineering skills for companies such as ours are difficult to find," said Ms Jenkins.
