Smart Solar Site system bears fruit

Green Apple Award for energy-saving, carbon-reducing solar/battery hybrid power solution from AJC EasyCabin

LUTON-based AJC Trailers, one of the UK’s leading producers of sustainable site welfare facilities, are celebrating a fifth consecutive Green Apple Award.

Operating jointly with infrastructure company Murphy Plant on the HS2 rail project, AJC EasyCabin developed a brand-new, energy-saving, carbon-reducing power combination called the Smart Solar Site system – a solar/battery hybrid solution that can be deployed in a variety of configurations.

The system consists of three components:

• A Solar Pod which provides a sustainable power supply to remote locations; power originates from a solar panel and can auto switch (if required) to a back-up diesel generator
• A Power Pod high-capacity battery bank that uses batteries as the primary source of power; an operator can attach multiple Power Pods to a site set-up to increase the power storage capacity
• A Solar Smart ‘plug and play’ solar panel kit that makes every roof a renewable energy source. There are no complicated installation requirements, an operator can simply plug solar directly into cabins, offices etc.  It will auto switch with the local Grid (or Solar Pod) when demand is high.

Over a two-month period on site the Solar Smart Site combination saved 2,543 litres of fuel and 7.0 tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent of planting 980 trees to absorb this amount of carbon dioxide annually.

Commenting on the latest Green Apple Award, AJC EasyCabin’s operations director, Simon Fletcher, said: ‘We were honoured to have such an important company in Murphy Plant to help us to trial this system. Murphy Plant have invested heavily in clean, green equipment for their fleet, so their input in monitoring our system was extremely valuable.’

Brendan Sugrue, head of operations at Murphy Plant, added: ‘This award comes as no surprise to us as the system has performed perfectly ever since it was set up. We have saved significant amounts of fuel and lowered both our costs and carbon footprint. We would like to add our congratulations to the AJC team and thank them for helping in our objective to reduce emissions on our work sites.’

Established in 1994, the Green Apple Awards recognize, reward and promote environmental best practice around the world. They are supported by the Environment Agency, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Chartered Institution for Wastes Management and other independent bodies.