A new partnership between Select Plant Hire and PUNCH Flybrid could transform the way generators are utilised on construction sites across the country. The PUNCH Flybrid energy storage flywheel delivered a 50% fuel saving and stopped 3,400kg of CO² being released into the atmosphere over four weeks during the operation of one crane, according to Select Plant Hire.

Generators on construction projects are a familiar sight and are typically sized for peak loads. However, most of the time they run at low load factors, which results in poor fuel economy and high emissions. By connecting the PUNCH Flybrid technology to the generator set, the flywheel load-levels the peak power that the generator set has to deal with. The PUNCH Flybrid system delivers energy immediately at high power during an increasing load step and captures excess energy during a decreasing load step.

To demonstrate this technology, Select Plant Hire connected the PUNCH Flybrid technology to a crane at one of its London projects for a month. Over the course of the 213 hours it saved over 1,300 litres of fuel and prohibited 3,478.5kg worth of CO² pollution.

Alex Warrington, Select’s Managing Director, said “At one of our London sites we reduced the generator size on our CTL1600 (66t luffer) from 800kVA to 500kVA, with the opportunity for further reduction. It instantly generates substantial CO² savings and saves significant costs of rental – it makes sense on every level.

“This is yet another example of Select’s investment in sustainable plant.”

Tobias Knichel, Managing Director of PUNCH Flybrid, was delighted with the results: “It takes courage to be first. Select Plant Hire was the first company to approach PUNCH Flybrid for a technical collaboration to integrate flywheel energy storage directly onto tower cranes.

“Working together with the Select team for the last few months demonstrated that Select not only understand the technical aspects of tower cranes very well, but they have also shown an outstanding level of support and forward thinking to their impressive customer base. This has convinced us that partnering with Select is the right next step for PUNCH Flybrid.”

For further information on how this technology works please click here to watch a demo.