Forty years in the vanguard of renewable energy

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of Dulas being established as a renewable energy co-operative by a group of engineers based at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Mid Wales.

1982 – Dulas starts out as a commercial subsidiary of the Centre for Alternative Energy

Clearly the renewable energy world has developed hugely since 1982, but it is useful to remember that ‘climate change’ had not even entered the public consciousness when Dulas started out. It was the oil price crisis resulting from war in the Middle East that spawned commercial interest in renewable energy and in part led to the creation of the Centre of Alternative Technology in 1973. However, the wind and solar energy industries remained relatively small scale for several years, with little significant investment. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that climate change and global warming started to come to the attention of the mainstream media, although many sections were for a long time sceptical of the science.

Against this backdrop the early Dulas engineers were ahead of their time, and motivated not by commercial interests but by a desire to harness the power of clean energy and to spread its benefits across the globe.

Ever since, Dulas has been at the forefront of using renewable energy to reduce our reliance on finite fossil fuels and bring clean energy across the globe. We are recognised as industry leaders in solar, wind and hydro systems, responsible for many ‘firsts’, including the development of solar powered vaccine refrigerators that have improved the life chances of thousands of people in developing countries around the world.