Surrey supplier of wind turbines goes bankrupt

An award-winning Surrey company that described itself as a “world leader” in wind turbines has gone out of business.

A bankruptcy notice on the front door of Endurance Wind Power in the Campbell Heights industrial area on 24th Avenue near 192 Street confirms that the company’s operations are now being overseen by trustee Grant Thornton Ltd.

Endurance chief executive Brad Bardua said the company suffered after government subsidies to small-scale wind turbines dried up in Britain, the company’s prime market.

The sharp decline in the British pound also didn’t help.

“It was a variety of issues, one on top of another,” he said in an interview Monday.

Endurance assembled 50-kilowatt turbines at its Surrey plant, and 225-kilowatt turbines in Britain.

The company had about 120 employees globally, including staff in Denmark and Italy, with about 30 in B.C.

“The Canadian company has gone into bankruptcy ... and is working through what’s going to happen with the other operations,” Bardua said.

Clean Energy B.C. executive director Paul Kariya said: “Most of the market for Endurance Wind Power was not in Canada from Day 1 — it was U.K. and elsewhere. ”

Founded in 2007, the company received numerous business awards over the years, including two in 2015: “Fast-track company of the year” from the Business Green Leaders Awards in the United Kingdom, and a business excellence award from the South Surrey and White Rock Chamber of Commerce.

According to the Global Wind Energy Council, a record of more than 63 gigawatts of new wind power capacity was brought online last year around the world.

Rather than feed into large power grids, Endurance clients included farmers who wanted a turbine on their property to power operations.