A-Plant, the UK’s leading tool and equipment hire company invited leading industry experts, suppliers and partners to a Hydrogen Energy Summit, to discuss how best to collaborate and tackle the growing demand for renewable energy sources in the construction market.
The inaugural workshop took place on 3rd October, in partnership with Loughborough-based Intelligent Energy and focussed on how Hydrogen fuel cells can be an integral part of power provision developed as a sustainable fuel replacement for diesel.
Hydrogen fuel cell powered products are increasingly gaining traction as a viable alternative to diesel generators, particularly in the UK construction industry, as they are zero emission, operate quietly and offer scalable power.
The workshop was organised by A-Plant and supported by Intelligent Energy, one of the world’s leading fuel cell engineering companies. It brought together representatives from some of the industries key operators, with the aim of working together to find solutions to bring products and services to market.
The event combined a series of presentations and discussions as well as a tour of Intelligent Energy’s facilities which showcased its commercially available fuel cell product range. In addition, TCP Ltd, AJC Easy Cabin and Stephill Generators demonstrated their award-winning fuel cell powered products, which ranged from portable lighting towers and generators to site welfare cabins.
Further demonstrations were conducted by H2 Tec, Fuel Cell Systems and the Knowledge Transfer Network addressing the Hydrogen ecosystem, engineering of the fuel cells as well as how it should be handled. There was also an opportunity for attendees to share their experiences of the fuel source so far.
Dave Harris, Sales & Marketing Director for A-Plant, said: “Providing sustainable hire equipment and energy options into the construction and infrastructure market is paramount. As a company we want to reduce our carbon footprint and play a leading role in identifying best practice and reduce emissions within the industry, especially when we consider steps that need to be taken to ensure we contribute to the Government’s 2050 zero carbon target.
“Therefore, it’s vital that we collaborate with other industry experts, suppliers and our customers to ensure that we drive changes that will reduce our environmental impact.
“The Hydrogen workshop was the ideal platform to share our findings and experiences, as well as an opportunity to hear from the hydrogen industry experts and customers such as Balfour Beatty and Costain. Hydrogen fuel cell technology is clean, lightweight and will create greater efficiencies for our customers.”
Lee Juby, Chief Sales Officer at Intelligent Energy, added: “Hydrogen fuel cell technology is here and available now. Our Hydrogen Fuel Cell Modules are proving to be a viable alternative power source to diesel generators and can help the construction industry transition to zero emission power for a sustainable future, addressing environmental noise and air quality. They also provide an opportunity to both reduce operating costs and increase environmental performance compared with the use of traditional diesel generators.”
