Falcon Tower Cranes bought the first Revolution Battery in September and has hired it out to Bowmer & Kirkland to power a Jaso J118pa and a Jaso J138A tower crane.
Ordinarily, these cranes require a 200kVA diesel generator but the Revolution Battery allows these cranes to be powered from only a 32A mains connection. As a result, it is expected to save around 800 litres of fuel a week and more than two tonnes of CO2e.
Typical battery systems require large amounts of stored energy to generate high peak power. However, while many applications require high power, they only need this high power for a few seconds. As a result, comparatively little energy is used during operations. The required energy can often be supplied by the available mains connection or a small, efficient generator set. As a result, storing large amounts of energy in a battery system is not needed.
That, at least, is the rationale of Dumarey Green Power, the manufacturer of the Revolution Battery and the company that under its former name of Punch Flybrid brought Formula One flywheel technology to UK construction sites – Bowmer & Kirkland was in the vangard of that innovation too. Dumarey Green Power has by now deployed around 250 of its flywheel energy storage systems, saving more than 6.5 million litres of diesel fuel.
The British-made Revolution Battery is an industrial battery energy storage system (BESS) that breaks the link between energy storage and output power. It incorporates a battery pack that can deliver high amounts of power from a comparatively small amount of energy storage. This results in a smaller battery system with much reduced use of battery cells, higher efficiency and lower embedded emissions, it is claimed.
Where applications need a lot of energy, Dumarey Green Power deploys its second life (recycled) battery products. These use energy-dense battery modules that have been used on buses or trucks before becoming part of Dumarey’s PowerSkid and EnergySkid products.
Dumarey Green Power product director Jon Drakeley said: “Our new Revolution Battery allows even the heaviest tower cranes in the country to be powered from just a 32A mains supply. Revolution Battery will play a significant part in reducing the use of generators, avoiding wasted emissions and fuel usage.
“Our partnership with Falcon Tower Crane and Bowmer & Kirkland saw the first battery units go directly from the factory to a customer site, where they were quickly installed to cut both emissions and save money running the tower cranes.”
Falcon Tower Crane Services associate service director Rupert Cook said: "Battery Energy Storage Systems have been making rapid inroads into the tower crane market and Falcon Tower Cranes have been at the forefront of this change. Our new fleet of Revolution Batteries allows us to power large cranes from a small power supply. Early testing has shown we can run three cranes from a single system. The system is smaller than one of our large generators and installation can be done in just moments, making it ideal for busy sites where space and time are at a premium. We already have customers for the first delivery of systems, and with their history of innovation it was no surprise that Bowmer & Kirkland were first in the queue."
Bowmer & Kirkland lifting manager Dave Shooter added: “Cutting the use of diesel generators as much as possible is key to decarbonising our lifting operations and battery systems have a major part to play in making that possible.”
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