Ecotricity has bought a British wind turbine manufacturer out of administration and aims to ensure its “innovative new windmill design” comes to market in the next 12 months.

Evance’s new technology, which is expected to improve efficiency and cut costs for small turbines, is 90% through developing and is nearing the production stage, Ecotricity said.

The turbine manufacturer was “suddenly placed into administration” last month despite it having built and sold almost 2,000 small wind turbines across the UK and to overseas markets, including the US and Madagascar.

Ecotricity said investors were spooked by the Government’s anti-wind rhetoric and a cut to subsidies for small wind turbines for the second time in a year.

The Feed-in Tariff for turbines sized 15kW and under received a 20% cut from April this year, a reduction on top of a 37% Feed-in Tariff cut last year which is believed to have led to an 80% fall in small wind sales in Britain.

Dale Vince, Founder of Ecotricity said: “So many small wind companies are going out of business in Britain due to Government policy. With the green sector responsible for around 10% of Britain’s GDP growth, that’s hard to fathom.”

However he added the company is “very pleased” to save Evance’s green sector expertise and the new technology: “This innovative new windmill will bring large turbine performance to small wind, a massive step change in terms of efficiency and cost.”