Wates has been running a JCB 60kVA hydrogen combustion generator, hired from Sunbelt Rentals, on a building site near Wolverhampton.
Coupled with a 104kWh Powerpack battery storage unit, the combined power system can operate on battery power alone, as a hybrid (using both battery and generator power) or hydrogen-powered only.
Project director Adam Cannon said: “One of the questions we get from customers is how can you make site set-up more energy efficient and more carbon neutral? We’ve been trying other fuels, but they’ve been a bit of a challenge. Hydrogen for me is the way forward. It is completely new thinking for power for our accommodation on site and it really reduces the burden from the statutory authority having to bring new cables and infrastructure to site. It will allow us to be standalone and to offer a carbon neutral offering to our customers.”
He added: “The fuel can be transported to site in the same way as diesel. It’s mobile, it’s quick to refuel and you’ve got your generator turned back on and functioning.”
Director Jonny Wates added: “Zero emission power on sites is a fundamental building block to get us to our ambition. We’re really excited to partner with JCB on hydrogen, because its cleaner energy. Fundamentally, it’s about the emissions, the particulates and the noise that you associate with a diesel generator. We need to be changing quite rapidly, to adapt to what our customers want, to what our broader stakeholders want, but also to what we believe is our responsibility in addressing the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss.”
Chris Dempsey, managing director of energy solutions at Sunbelt Rentals, said: “Making it as simple as possible is key. Essentially, this is internal combustion technology, which is well known within the market. It’s quite easy for our customers to relate to that technology.”
JCB director Tim Burnhope added: “The power generation sector is really important to JCB. In the future we’re going to need a lot more electricity and zero-carbon electricity. Having a generator that produces electricity using hydrogen, is fundamental to that future. We have a tube trailer that delivers the hydrogen to site. We park next to the generator, couple the tube trailer to the generator and then we consume fuel as you would with any other system. We swap over with a fresh tank and continue to produce carbon-free electricity on site.”
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