HS2 Ltd release.

HS2 Ltd - the company building Britain’s new high speed, low carbon railway - has today [Thursday 12 May] announced its first completely diesel-free site is the Canterbury Road Vent Shaft site in South Kilburn, where HS2’s civils contractor Skanska Costain STRABAG joint venture (SCS JV) have introduced a range of diesel-free technologies and greener equipment.

Earlier this year, HS2 Ltd announced that the project aims to be net-zero carbon from 2035, with the target of achieving its first diesel-free construction site in 2022, and all of its construction sites being diesel-free by 2029.

Innovations on this site include one of the UK’s first 160 tonne emissions-free fully electric crawler cranes; the use of biofuels (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil) to power plant and machinery on site; an electric compressor; and access to mains power on a 100% renewable energy tariff.

HS2’s Net Zero Carbon Plan sets out how HS2 will achieve new carbon reduction milestones, support the decarbonisation of the UK construction sector and reduce the carbon footprint of the programme. Other sites are set to follow suit, with innovations including retrofit technologies, biofuels, hydrogen and solar power helping to cut carbon across the whole of the route.

Innovations being trialled and introduced on other sites include:

• ‘Clean Air Gas Engine’ funded through Innovate UK and led by OakTec, which replaces diesel power with ultra-low (bio-LPG) emission engines in Advante Welfare units and standalone units.
• ‘EcoNet’ developed by Invisible Systems, Balfour Beatty and Sunbelt which controls and reduces energy output from key appliances, reducing power demand by 30%.
• Non-Road Mobile Machinery retrofit solutions which adds pollution control equipment onto older vehicles as an alternative to replacing the machine or the engine, reducing emissions.
• CESAR Emissions Compliance Verification which is a resilient system to show the EU Stage engine emission class of all construction plant.
• Proactive dust management solutions reducing impacts associated with on-site activities.
• Fully Electric Renewable Energy using solar and wind to power noise and air quality monitors, site security cameras and site briefing areas and solar pods powering sites by combining solar PV, battery storage and a back-up generator.
• Hydrogen Technology trials across sites considering both fuel-cell technology and combustible hydrogen solutions.

https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/news/major-green-milestone-for-hs2-as-project-announces-first-diesel-free-construction-site