A customer conducting creative winter light shows in more than a half dozen cities knew they could count on Herc Rentals to help them cut down on diesel fuel and emissions.
In 2022, this customer produced winter village light shows in several big cities from coast to coast, explained Herc Rentals’ Live Events Sales Representative Colin Tennyson. Because each of these shows (except one which used house power) required generators and were conducted at the cities’ botanical gardens, they enlisted Herc Rentals for help.
For the deal to go down with the customer, however, Herc Rentals had to accomplish a few things: 1.) Cut down on emissions from the generators; 2.) Cut down on overall emissions, such as switching from diesel booms to electric booms; and 3.) Cut back on diesel fuel as much as possible.
After reviewing options with the customer, Tennyson pitched a specialized battery pack as a way to reduce the customer’s overall carbon footprint.
“We used one on a trial basis in Brooklyn that was connected to a 40 kW generator. We had a 30 kVa battery pack in line, which went from the generator, passed to the battery pack, and then connected to all the lighting rigs,” Tennyson explained. “The basis behind it is that the generator would charge the battery pack. Once the battery pack was fully charged and there was a load on the battery pack, this would kick off the generator, which ran off the battery pack’s power. Once the battery pack was drained down to 20% (which was about 4 hours later), the generator would kick back on and charge the battery.
“It didn’t hinder anything on the lighting equipment,” Tennyson added. “The charge would take anywhere from one to two hours, and then the cycle would repeat.”
The result?
In four hours of battery runtime, Herc Rentals saved the customer 10 gallons of fuel from the 72-gallon tank onboard the generator. Over the 12-week contract, that battery and generator saved the customer approximately 600 gallons of fuel which translates into a savings of thousands of dollars.
“It could have been more if we sized up the battery pack to a 60 kVa unit. It would have allowed for a longer runtime on the battery,” Tennyson said. “The plan for this year is to see if they can try to incorporate maybe just one in each city. It should save them fuel on all the activations.”
