RC117 MarApr 2025 - Magazine - Page 32
ENERGY
The report con昀椀rms EllisDon’s corporate commitment to be net
zero by 2050 in alignment with the government targets, with an
interim milestone of a 42 per cent reduction by 2030, explained Lee
Hyland, construction manager at EllisDon.
It’s no secret that the construction industry is a signi昀椀cant
contributor to Canada’s GHG emissions.
“Our emissions pro昀椀le showed that nearly 55 per cent of our
total emissions were fuel burning on site, which makes sense from a
construction standpoint,” said Hyland, who has been instrumental
in piloting the alternative power technology. “We started exploring
di昀昀erent options and really looking around the industry and kicking
the tires. One of the things we started looking at was what if we had
a battery-based system that we could couple with a solar array to
help recharge and then maybe a small diesel generator or a small
energy source to top it up.”
Hybrid solution sparks innovation
EllisDon’s Ottawa team, supported by Sustainable Building
Solutions (SBS), approached Hybrid Power Solutions to procure
hybrid generators to power its construction infrastructure on site.
“We looked at a number of di昀昀erent options for the recharging
source other than solar,” said Hyland, adding other temporary
power solutions in the marketplace include natural gas generators,
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ELLISDON CORPORATION
The Spark generators consist of a 24-kW battery connected to a
12x340-Watt solar panel, which charges the battery and powers the
infrastructure. A small diesel generator acts as a backup/top-up for
the battery when solar can’t meet the entire demand.
