Voltacon supplies £1 million LED lighting order to the Royal Navy fleet

Voltacon, based at Burnsall Road Industrial Estate in Canley, Coventry, supplied 100,783 LED tubes for 21 ships in the Royal Navy fleet, including the new aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The order, worth £1 million, is the company's largest to date.

The fleet covered by the contract includes six Type 45 Destroyers, 13 Type 23 Frigates and two Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers. Around 100 staff worked round-the-clock for 45 days at Voltacon's factory in China to manufacture the tubes and process the order. The lights were then shipped to Portsmouth naval base in batches of between 8,000 and 10,000 for installation by 40 electricians from BAE Systems.

Stefanos Kandilidis, managing director at Voltacon, said the Royal Navy tested around 3,000 pieces of LED lighting before committing to the order. Discussions with the Ministry of Defence ran for three years, during which the lights were also trialled on the ships for three years before refurbishment work began.

The ships had previously been fitted with fluorescent lighting. Kandilidis pointed to the practical case for switching: lamps and tubes can be hard to source at sea, and keeping spare parts on board takes up space. LED lighting reduces maintenance load, storage requirements and running costs, and cuts energy use, which matters when a ship is operating on low power.

Installation is being carried out on an opportunity basis whenever ships are in dock, so full fitting across the fleet may take around 12 months. Kandilidis noted the significance of having Voltacon's lights fitted on HMS Queen Elizabeth, with the second carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, in build at Rosyth Naval Dockyard.

Keith Young of the Ministry of Defence's procurement agency, Defence Equipment and Support, said working with Voltacon had been a positive experience. He noted that the company is small compared with the MoD's usual suppliers, which brought a more personal approach, and said Voltacon had been flexible in ensuring the order was processed quickly.

Products used in this project

Solar Panel Z Bracket Mounting Kit 4pcs £7.29 inc VAT £6.08 exc VAT Adjustable Tilt Solar Panel Mounting Kit £29.40 inc VAT £24.50 exc VAT Adjustable Flat Roof & Ground Solar Panel Mounting Kit 15-35° £72.45 inc VAT £60.38 exc VAT Copper Cable Lugs 25mm² to 95mm² M10 £0.62 inc VAT £0.52 exc VAT

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