What to Consider When Investing in Hybrid Power
Tim Doling
Helping our clients achieve their Carbon reduction goals. Focused on the Construction, Events and Temporary Power Industries.
As battery technology continues its rapid advancement, it is becoming increasingly feasible—and actually advantageous—to switch to hybrid models of storing and generating energy. From fleet managers to construction contractors, solely relying on diesel generators and other similar technologies is not as necessary as it once was. Instead, businesses are now looking for alternative power storage solutions.
Important Considerations
Whether you are charging a fleet of electric vehicles, powering construction equipment, or using power for any other function at your facility or worksite, there are several factors to consider when deciding to invest in a power storage solution like the POWRBANK from POWR2.
Define Your Energy Demand
How are you currently using energy? For an event, for instance, power is being drawn at a fairly constant rate just through the active hours. Conversely, a construction site will generally have peaks whenever heavier equipment is in use.
Understanding how your event or your worksite uses energy is a key part of deciding whether or not battery technology would be beneficial.
Fuel Costs and Usage
Once you understand how energy demand may or may not fluctuate for your application, you can analyze where waste may be occurring. When considering a construction site, for example, evidence of waste becomes clear.
If a diesel generator is running on a construction site either most of the day or 24/7, much of its passive time (where power isn’t in high demand, but the generator is still burning fuel) is nearly all waste. A hybrid system, on the other hand, would only use fuel to recharge a POWRBANK system. Then, equipment could draw energy from the battery instead of relying on burning fuel.
What Are Your Sustainability Goals
Beyond the cost of wasted energy of a generator passively burning fuel, there is also a carbon footprint to consider. Wasted fuel isn’t only wasted money. When fuel is being wasted, it is like paying to put carbon dioxide and other harmful chemicals into the air with no short- or long-term benefit as a result.
Other Ways to Increase Efficiency
A hybrid energy system could be as simple as storing excess energy for use later, thereby decreasing fuel consumption or power grid demand. However, integrating a solar power system, for example, could further reduce demand from less clean sources. If solar is being used to charge your battery, you are cutting energy costs while simultaneously making a positive environmental impact.
An energy management system (EMS) that is integrated into the hybrid energy system can automatically take care of inefficiencies. The POWRBANK EMS is the brains of the entire system, integrating each element of the system together, so energy can be efficiently drawn from the correct source. The EMS system should also include a dashboard where the performance of each piece of equipment can be monitored and tracked.
Curious how POWRBANK could be integrated into your processes and save your organization money? There’s plenty more to talk about, so don’t hesitate to reach out.