Ploughcroft Building Services boss Chris Hopkins won £120,000 backing for his plan to set up a national photovoltaic panels installer network from business giants Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis on the show.

The firm set up a dedicated training division and became the first roofing contractor with an NVQ solar roof training centre and CSCS centre in the UK.

But now the Yorkshire firm has collapsed with the loss of 15 jobs some six months after his Dragon backers pulled out of the business.

Hopkins blamed the sudden collapse on cuts in the feed-in tariff for his firm’s demise and paradoxically went out of business as the Government prepared to launch it vaunted Green Deal.

He also blamed poor weather conditions impacting on installations over the summer forcing him to call in administrators as work dried up.

Huddersfield administrators DL Partnership have agreed to sell all the firm’s assets and goodwill to Hopkins, who will now trade under the newly-formed Ploughcroft Ltd.

Hopkins said he planned to work as a one-man band and hopes to use some of the 120 sub-contractor solar installers who qualified through his training centre.

Hopkins said: “I started out as a roofer 20 years ago and I am adamant to retain my credibility in this industry.

“I saw solar as the way forward before the recession hit the building and roofing industry in 2006 and have helped produce the solar roofing NVQ which is now being taught in colleges across the UK, and used as a key competency in the MCS accreditation process.”