A recent major project saw Balfour Beatty take an innovative approach to providing on-site power, and charging a new fleet of electric JCB excavators.
Massive savings for Balfour Beatty
By deploying sustainable products on the A63 Road Improvement Scheme – Balfour Beatty has achieved a major reduction in diesel usage and CO2e emissions.
A recent major project saw Balfour Beatty take an innovative approach to providing onsite power – and charging a new fleet of electric JCB excavators.
The project spans a 1.5 kilometre site in the centre of Hull (Castle Street). It see’s the conversion of a major interchange into a split level junction and introduction of a two-lane dual carriageway and two new bridges to improve safety for pedestrians and other road users.
Deploying the new ProPower
The £75 million contract became the first major site in the UK to deploy Prolectric’s new ProPower – a completely new generation of solar hybrid generators.
As part of the project, Balfour Beatty aimed to bring together the latest innovative, sustainable technology as part of a continued drive to operate cleaner, quieter worksites, while driving down diesel usage, CO2e emissions and operational costs.
The Challenge
The electric excavators needed to be recharged each day, however, there was no mains power on site. Previously a diesel generator would have run 24/7 to provide on-site power, but this would have eliminated the environmental benefits gained by using the battery excavators.
The Solution
The ProPower’s solar hybrid system – offered a clean, quiet way of charging the excavators that required no mains power. Being trailer mounted, the solar generators were also easy to deploy, easy to move around site and required little maintenance.
This led to an incredible 78% zero fuel hours, savings of approximately 2,527 litres of fuel and 7,000 kg of CO2e over a 50 day trial.
The case study showcases how sustainable innovations can be brought together to transform traditional worksites into cleaner and more cost efficient projects.
