How this Irish Manufacturer saves €66,500 annually because of GreenPlus Funding
High level wins attributed to GreenPlus
450MWh saved in energy every year
€66,500 saved annually through solar PV and roof upgrades
110 tonnes of CO2 cut from their footprint each year
ISO 50001 and ISO 14001 certification achieved in 2024
€15,000+ in additional net savings from a new waste programme
Every project funded through SEAI and Enterprise Ireland grant support
A Manufacturer With a Problem Most Irish Businesses Recognise
Abcon Industrial Products has been manufacturing in Cootehill, Co. Cavan since 2005. Today they employ over 180 people across two divisions, Abcon Abrasives and CavMac Hose and Rubber Lining.
Like most manufacturers running at scale, energy wasn't a side issue. It was baked into everything, production equipment, compressed air systems, building infrastructure. And one of their main production areas still had its original single skin roof. That meant heat loss, poor working conditions, and it was starting to affect production quality too.
Abcon knew sustainability had to become a real priority, not a talking point. What they didn't have was a clear way to fund it or a structured plan to act on it. Sound familiar?
How Green Plus Turned a Strategy Into Results
Once the GreenPlus enabled strategy was in place, Watt Footprint worked with Abcon to build out an energy management system aligned to ISO 50001 and an environmental management system aligned to ISO 14001. Both certifications landed in 2024, giving Abcon a formal, auditable way to track and keep improving their performance, not just a one-off fix.
Then came the physical changes:
2023: 250kWp of solar PV installed across the facility, funded through SEAI's Non-Domestic Microgen Scheme
2025: The old single skin roof on the main manufacturing area replaced with a highly insulated composite panel system, funded through SEAI's Business Energy Upgrades Scheme
2025: A waste audit that led to a new recycling agreement and an on-site baler, adding another €15,000 in annual savings
Every stage was funded. None of it happened by accident.
What Abcon's MD Has to Say
Barry Smith, Managing Director of Abcon, put it simply. Manufacturing at scale comes with responsibility, to customers who expect cost competitiveness, to the local community, and to the environment. Recent energy price volatility didn't slow that thinking down, it sharpened it. Having a partner in place to structure the programme and access the GreenPlus funding meant Abcon could move faster and with far more confidence than going it alone.
GreenPlus can do the same for your business
Abcon isn't unusual. Most Irish manufacturers are sitting on the same opportunity: rising energy costs, funding they haven't tapped into, and no clear starting point.
The difference is having a plan and a partner who's done this before.
If you're running a manufacturing facility, whether that's food production, pharma, or general industrial, and you haven't taken a structured look at your energy use yet, now's the time. The same Green Plus and SEAI supports that funded Abcon's programme are available to you.
Most pharmaceutical manufacturers installed their VOC abatement systems to meet a compliance requirement and have not revisited them since. With the 2026 Chemical Agents Code of Practice now in operation, there is renewed focus on how solvent emissions are managed on site. That conversation is also, whether sites realise it or not, an energy conversation.