Energy company to halve its workforce

Energy company to halve its workforce

Methane was extracted from abandoned coal mines

A Nottinghamshire-based energy company has announced it is to halve its workforce.

Alkane Energy, which produces methane gas from abandoned coal mines, is blaming low electricity prices and a lack of support from the government for the decision.

The Edwinstowe company began extracting methane, which is used to generate electricity, from abandoned coal mines three years ago.

Alkane operates from four sites in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and had been looking at setting up more than a dozen others.

We tried our hardest to avoid job losses but in the end we had to do this

Steve Goalby, Alkane Energy

But the falling price of methane means the smaller sites have become uneconomic.

The company has also accused the government of failing to recognise the benefits of this new green technology.

It claims that capturing coal mine methane substantially reduces carbon emissions - a key target for the government.

Twelve out of the current workforce of 24 are to lose their jobs.

The redundancies, which are coming from the Development Team, will be implemented before the end of April.

Finance director Steve Goalby said: "We'll do all we can but we haven't got a sister company where we can redeploy them.

"Most of our people came from the mining industry, and that's in jeopardy too, so there are not a lot of job opportunities.

"We tried our hardest to avoid the job losses but in the end we had to do this."