Two years ago, brothers Ben, Jock and Tim Lee’s company, Australian Irrigation Investments (AII), purchased Gunnedah-based pumping equipment specialists Lambert and Torrens.

While they were servicing the ag sector from the QLD border to Narromine, they “noticed very early on an interest and demand in solar pumping”. 

Ben said that pumps use a lot of power, and with electricity prices soaring and the price of diesel set to go up, customers were asking about alternatives.

Six months ago the boys purchased Adelaide-based solar pumping business Reaqua.

While Jock and Tim stayed with Lambert and Torrens in Gunnedah, Ben set the ReAqua office up in Tamworth, while the office and distribution centre in Adelaide also remains fully operational.

Recently the AII team received a Jobs for NSW boost, a “Government-backed, private-sector led” program that could see them become them become part of a $200,000 business project, although they will have to meet some community-based criteria first.

“We need to create a minimum of 10 local full time jobs within two years,” Ben said.

“We recently employed two graduate engineers in Tamworth, and that brings us up to five already.”

“We have another 18 months to fulfill the criteria, and will more than likely need those staff anyway.” 

While the team didn’t necessarily need to stay in the New England North West region to operate Reaqua, “it just made sense to base the business here”.

“The two businesses are essentially run separately, although we wanted to stay regional,” Ben said.

Local member Kevin Anderson announced the Jobs for NSW grant, saying the “boost in funding will generate more jobs, and help to attract more investment”.

“Jobs for NSW is helping to drive efforts to significantly grow regional centres and become accelerators for jobs growth and investment,” he said.

The program also includes new loan products.