Cadent award win highlights innovative approach to tackling emissions

A partnership to tackle vehicle emissions between Cardiff-based technology company, Clayton Power UK, and one the UK’s leading gas distributors, has been recognised at a national industry award for its innovative approach to tackling vehicle emissions.

Working with Clayton Power UK and vehicle conversion specialists, Bri-Stor Systems, has allowed national gas distributors, Cadent, to retrofit 80 vehicles within its ‘Operate and Maintain’ fleet with state-of-the-art lithium battery power systems.

That upgrade has drastically cut the otherwise unavoidable carbon emissions produced by the vehicle fleet and removable diesel generators during its crucial daily role in maintaining gas installations and apparatus on the company’s 132,000-kilometre gas pipe networks across the UK, supporting 11 million customers.

The pioneering partnership was recognised last month at the Gas Industry Awards 2019, with the trio scooping the ‘Innovation Award’ for its emission cutting results.

Discussing Clayton’s role in Cadent’s award win, Mervyn Ham, CEO at Clayton Power UK said:

“To see our partnership with Cadent recognised at a national industry awards is a fantastic endorsement of our technology, which we hope encourages further companies to stand by their commitments to reducing now unnecessary and avoidable vehicle carbon emissions, by embracing innovative ‘green power’ technology.

“We have a great relationship with Cadent and their forward-thinking approach to making their fleets more fuel efficient and environmentally cleaner is setting a new standard in the utilities industry.”

Adopting Clayton Power UK’s technology was part of Cadent’s long-term strategy to make its ‘Operate and Maintain’ fleet cleaner and greener, by cutting carbon emissions and fuel usage.

The award win was the culmination of over two years’ work to tailor the technology to Cadent’s needs, test it, and install it in company vehicles for real-world use.

Before the partnership, Cadent’s engineers had to leave their diesel vehicle engines running or use diesel generators, when parked, to power the maintenance tools on board.

With the battery on board, which harnesses the otherwise wasted power generated by the vehicle’s alternator to fully charge while the van is being driven, engineers are now able to turn off their engines and use a sustainable power source for their tools.

The award judges were impressed by Cadent’s results, with CO² emissions and fuel usage drastically reduced. Noise pollution has also been lowered, as the batteries are effectively silent when compared to the sound of a van engine or diesel generator.

Cadent’s Fleet Operations Manager Ian Walker said: “As a company we are aiming to significantly reduce our carbon emissions and help improve air quality.

“The beauty of this technology is that it provides the mobile source of electricity our engineers need to run their power tools but without the noise, vehicle fumes and carbon emissions that come from generating power the traditional way from our vans’ diesel engines or a diesel generator.”

For more information on Clayton Power UK, visit http://www.claytonpoweruk.com/.