Element 1 - Leading the construction industry towards a net zero future
Project blog 2 October 2024 by Colin Evison
Element 1 - Leading the construction industry towards a net zero future
As BAM commits to significantly lower its carbon emissions, Element 1 is a key part of our strategy. It’s a cross-industry consortium led by BAM which will develop the use of hydrogen as a supplement to lower diesel usage on construction sites, following the approval of a £4,872,653 grant through the UK Government’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP).
In my last blog from April 2024, we were at the stage where we had surveyed the Caterpillar and Kobelco excavators and devised solutions to allow the injection of hydrogen into the engine. I’m happy to announce that we have made significant progress since, culminating in a successful Demo Day of the hybrid excavators at Victoria North in Manchester, more on that later.
We have now converted all 4 excavators which have dual-fuel capability and a predicted diesel displacement of around 30% by using the hydrogen fuel system, significantly lowering carbon emissions. We’ve also finalised and successfully deployed our hydrogen storage and dispensing facility at the Victoria North site in Manchester. As part of that deployment, we have an Element 1 CAT320 dual fuel excavator working on the site. We’re also powering one of the site offices and welfare facilities using electricity generated by our hydrogen power unit which means we are able to switch off one of our diesel generators, showing the holistic carbon reduction results you can expect from Element 1.
The Demo Day I mentioned earlier showcased these developments at our Victoria North site. The event was attended by our Element 1 project partners and DESNZ (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero) and was a huge success. It was fantastic to see our hybrid excavators in action, demonstrating how easy they are to operate and refuel, with no extra training required. The event ended with a frank but insightful discussion about how this technology can be adopted by the industry.
So, what’s next? Work continues with the hydrogen bowser which is in its final stages of assembly and testing. Once completed it will provide a hydrogen fuel delivery solution for the remaining three hybrid excavators, which in turn will be deployed on different construction sites within travelling distance from our green hydrogen production facility near Doncaster. I’ll make sure to keep you updated when this happens.
The Element1 project has made huge progress so far in demonstrating the feasibility of converting existing diesel plant to hydrogen dual fuel, resulting in a significant reduction in diesel consumption. The holistic results demonstrated at the Victoria North site show the project is developing in exciting and at times unexpected ways. When I think about the impact Element 1 could make by reducing carbon emissions in our industry, I feel proud of the work that BAM and our consortium partners are putting into this project.
About the NZIP:
The Department for Energy Strategy provides funding for low carbon technologies and systems through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. This is to help enable the UK to end its contribution to climate change.
About the author
Colin Evison
Innovation Technical Lead
Colin leads the Innovation department. He works with departments across BAM UK and Ireland and the wider group to promote innovation in our business.
When he’s not managing innovation initiatives, he’s developing processes to streamline how we deploy innovation in the business. He looks at how we can make better use of data and how we can play a part in the shift towards Smart Cities.
Colin joined BAM Nuttall in 1997 and became a chartered civil engineer in 1998. He was admitted as a fellow of ICE in 2011. Outside of his main job, he supports graduate civil engineers on ICE Training Schemes.
