TURTLEnergy is the newest business unit within Turtle & Hughes, founded two years ago to service the unlimited market for renewable energy options.

"If you look at the geopolitical landscape, it's obvious that more and more institutions and businesses are going to begin generating their own electricity at the point of use," says John Millard, the founder of the new division. "Given threats like radical climate change, outmoded power grids, and the vulnerability to terrorism, the trend is going to be toward self-generation of power and away from total dependence on the utility companies."

The renewable energy market is in its formative stages, with various competitive and sometimes complementary technologies vying for customer attention. These include photovoltaics (PV-solar electricity), wind turbines and hydrogen fuel cells. This is where TURTLEnergy plans to provide a unique service.

"The potential customer, whether an industrial, commercial, institutional or municipal entity, needs advice and guidance in this new venture," Millard says. "Turtle & Hughes is in a unique position to coordinate the capabilities and strategies of both renewable energy manufacturing companies and the electrical contractors who will perform the installation of the system at the end-user's site. Since our company has a customer base of some 3,000 contractors, we can facilitate the optimum matches of end-user and installer."