A partnership between John Paul Construction and temporary energy solutions provider Aggreko has successfully achieved savings of over 66,000kg in carbon emissions and 20,357 litres of fuel at a prominent Galway construction site.
In early 2024, the industry-leading construction company was appointed as the main contractor for a Galway construction project. Having developed a close working relationship since 2020, John Paul Construction reached out to the team at Aggreko to seek their insight on integrating a decentralised energy solution.
The project required power for both a tower crane and site lighting. While a standard 250 kVA / 320 kVA generator would typically be able to support the site’s power demands, Aggreko’s goal of delivering greater efficiencies to customers and John Paul Construction’s ambition to reduce carbon emissions led to a low-carbon solution.
To reduce the environmental impact of the project, Aggreko suggested a hybrid system using a 125 kVA generator alongside a 150/75 kWh battery which provided an 700amp pass through current to allow for the impact motor start. This would allow the site’s energy requirements to be met, while also offering scalability in line with varying load demands, and even periods of zero-emissions power when the battery was operating independently.
To prove its capabilities, Aggreko tested the package at its site in Dublin for two weeks. The test package demonstrated that both the necessary power and the desired outcome was achievable, encouraging John Paul Construction to use the solution for the duration of the project – 201 days.
After being installed at the Galway site in August 2024, the battery and generator delivered a consistent power supply until the completion of the project in February 2025. During this time, the generator came on at 6am for a maximum of 3 hours to give the battery a boost and ran for a maximum of three hours at night so that it could recharge.
This all resulted in John Paul Construction achieving a weekly emission reduction of 2,342 kg per week alongside a fuel saving of 712 litres. This is the equivalent to a weekly fuel cost saving of at least €600 euros
Pat Enright, Sector Sales at Aggreko Ireland, said: “The construction industry is increasingly needing to balance power requirements with cost efficiencies and sustainability targets to reduce the environmental impact of the sector. We knew when John Paul Construction approached us that finding a low-carbon solution was a must, so our team set out to identify an alternative to a standard generator that could limit emissions and save on fuel. Our solution, a hybrid battery system, allowed John Paul Construction to incorporate its sustainability values into the Galway project.”
A recent Aggreko report, A Perfect Storm for European Construction, surveyed 850 construction managers across eight key regions on the biggest issues shaping the industry. It found that Ireland posted the highest ‘net importance’ score when asked if sustainability was more important than three years ago, with 30% also stating that incorrectly sized equipment had affected efficiency onsite.
According to the report, the main barrier preventing Irish construction managers from using new green technology was a ‘lack of knowledge’, while the main incentive to use it was to ‘reduce costs’ – a use case that has been evidenced by the savings achieved in Galway.
To support the decarbonisation of the construction industry across Ireland and beyond, Aggreko launched its sustainability framework, Energising Change, to help companies such as John Paul Construction accelerate the integration of low-carbon solutions into their operations.
David McKenna, Sustainability Manager at John Paul Construction said: “In 2024, we launched our Sustainability Strategy to guide us in our journey to reach net zero by 2040. Since then, we introduced our Green Site Green Office programme and worked to define our Net Zero Carbon roadmap to achieve Science Based Targets. This programme introduced a host of energy saving initiatives. However, we found that the use of battery energy storage systems working in hybrid with efficient generators on our tower cranes – to be one of the most impactful in terms of energy & carbon reductions.
“Knowing our values, the team worked to show us that their alternative solution was ideal for our Galway project by allowing us to still be able to power lights and the tower crane but not waste valuable energy. It is due to this that we have developed such a positive working relationship with Aggreko as we share that common goal.”
