Company History

Since 1966, the EA Technology Group has evolved from a publicly-owned research and development centre for the UK electricity industry into one of the world’s leading experts in effective management of electricity assets, with customers from China to California.

Timeline

1966 Originally founded as the Electricity Council Research Centre, acting as the central R&D resource for the then state owned UK electricity industry
1991 Rebranded as EA Technology, as part of the privatisation of Britain’s electricity sector
1997 EA Technology became a fully independent commercial enterprise after a management and employee buy-out (MEBO)
2003 Company restructured to spread ownership of shares more evenly among staff, resulting in majority ownership by employees
2008 Founding of the Energy Innovation Centre at Capenhurst, to fast-track new energy ideas and businesses to market
2009 New EA Technology Group structure establishes many of its businesses as individual companies, enabling them to concentrate more closely on their specialist areas of operation and customer groups

Milestone achievements

Many of the innovations which EA Technology has pioneered since 1966 have formed the foundation of the modern electricity industry, making networks more efficient, reliable and safer. These include:

• Identifying Transient Earth Voltage (TEV) effects as an important indicator of asset condition
  
  
• Developing a unique range of Partial Discharge (PD) instruments, using ultrasonic and TEV sensors to assess the condition of live assets
  
  
• Developing Condition Based Risk Management (CBRM) as a comprehensive new methodology for the management of electrical assets on the basis of their actual condition
  
  
• Inventing the ‘halogen hob’
  
  
• Pioneering work on the development of low carbon power technologies, including microCHP generation, community microgrids, integration of distributed generation into networks, energy storage and electric vehicles