Battery systems go Green
21 April 2022
More organisations are adopting sustainable ways of working but end users often need to be educated in using them effectively.
Green Power Hire reports that interest is growing strongly in its range of battery storage systems that run in tandem with a diesel generator, owing to their ability to offer controlled and automated operation.
“Sometimes at the end of the working day, site workers will just leave everything switched on in welfare units and site offices, like heating and lighting,” director Mark Chamberlain tells me. “In a standard situation the battery would typically turn the generator off, deplete quite quickly because it is trying to power so much, and then the generator will have to switch back on to recharge it.
“Our batteries have controllable output sockets. So if we, say, connect up a drying room, we don’t need to power it all night with 9kW of heating. We might power it just for a couple of hours in advance of workers returning in the morning.
“For site offices we can turn them off at night and bring them back on an hour before the site re-opens in the morning. And perimeter lighting can be controlled via a light sensor mounted on top of the battery.”
Having the battery pack available also means that the generator can be downsized, reducing emissions, engine wear and running costs.
Green Power Hire offers battery banks with capacities of 45kWh and 75kWh. Multiple units can be linked together to give higher outputs. The machines, which are made in the UK, can also be connected to solar panels and wind turbines.
Green Power Hire was formed last year and is part of the Russells group which supplies and hires agricultural and grounds care machinery. The organisation celebrated its centenary last year.
Mark previously worked for another battery product developer and supplied a system to Russells for one of their sites that could not be connected easily to the grid. They saw potential for other applications, which eventually led to Green Power Hire’s formation.
