Dumarey Green Power, formerly Punch Flybrid – the company that brought flywheel technology to UK construction sites – has developed a new battery energy storage system.
Dumarey’s Revolution Battery differs from competing products designed to power whole construction sites – such as Northvolt’s Voltpack or Ampd’s Enertainer – in that it prioritises power output over energy storage capacity.
Dumarey Green Power managing director Tobias Knichel explains: “Other batteries are typically 1:1 power to energy ratio but we have decided to go a different way. Our batteries give 300kW of power with only 28kWh of energy. So it is a smaller unit, less CO2 and more efficient.”
And also a third the price, he adds.
“A lot of construction sites don’t need a lot of energy but they do occasionally need a lot of power,” he says, citing the sudden power surge required for a large tower crane making an occasional heavy lift.
“Our pitch is to persuade contractors to use 28kWh batteries instead of 300 kWh batteries,” Knichel says.
“Revolution Battery not only saves on natural resources, but also allows the heaviest tower cranes in the country to be powered from only a small mains supply.”
By having the battery plugged into the mains, it is stores sufficient energy for the needs of regular construction sites and provides the power required when demand peaks.
The traditional method for meeting the occasional peaks in demand for power has been to specify diesel generators that most of the time are operating to only a fraction of their capacity. Silverstone-based Dumarey Green Power, which as Punch Flybrid has its roots in Formula 1 racing, introduced flywheel technology to construction in 2021 as a way of enabling contractors to specify much smaller, cheaper generators. By connecting a Peak Power 200 box to the generator set, the flywheel load-levels the peak power that the generator set has to deal with. The flywheel system delivers energy immediately at high power during an increasing load step and captures excess energy (in a spinning tube) during a decreasing load step.
Punch changed its name to Dumarey last year – the company is owned by Belgian entrepreneur Guido Dumarey. Dumarey Green Power Ltd is the UK subsidiary of Dumarey Group NV and the Revolution Battery is produced in the UK at Silverstone Park.
Falcon Tower Cranes has already been a customer of Dumarey’s flywheel system and also has Voltpack battery energy storage systems from Northvolt in its fleet.
Falcon is sold on Dumarey’s concept and has committed to buying however many Revolution batteries that Dumarey Green Power can produce this year. Tobias Knichel is reluctant to be pressed on how many units this will be but confirms that ‘several’ would be more accurate than ‘dozens’.
The first unit is unveiled today at the Vertikal Days cranes and access trade fair, with a formal handover to Falcon.
Andrew Brown, managing director of Falcon Tower Crane Services, said: “We are excited to deepen our partnership with Dumarey Green Power through the adoption of their groundbreaking Revolution Battery. At Falcon, we have always been committed to leveraging the most innovative technologies to reduce our environmental impact and deliver sustainable solutions to our clients. The collaboration marks a significant step in our efforts to further reduce our reliance on traditional diesel generators and move towards a cleaner, more energy-efficient future. The Revolution Battery’s ability to provide high peak power with minimal energy storage aligns perfectly with our operational needs and environmental goals.”
Dumarey also recently acquired Dutch battery recycling specialist Time Shift BV. Now part of Dumarey Green Power, Time Shift takes batteries from old electric trucks and buses and gives them a second life. The batteries no longer have the required energy storage capacity that buses and trucks require but still have useful power capacity for other applications. These second-life batteries were used to power a Massive Attack concert in Bristol – billed as an entirely fossil-fuel-free event. Dumarey is now also promoting the 1200kWh EnergySkid and 240kWh PowerSkid second-life battery systems to the construction industry, with Hinkley Point C among users that it inherited through the acquisition.
With its original Peak Power 200 flywheel system, second-life batteries acquired with Time Shift and its new Revolution first-life battery, Dumarey Green Power now has a product portfolio that it reckons offers a cheaper, greener alternative to diesel whatever the specific requirements of any given construction site may be.
Dumarey Green Power is not the only British-based manufacturer of battery energy storage systems. Green Power Hire, acquired by Speedy Hire last October for £20.2m, also manufacturers in the UK. Northvolt is a Swedish company; Ampd is Chinese.
