Vancouver-based Hybrid Power Solutions is poised for major expansion after reaching a breakthrough distribution deal with leading U.S. equipment supplier Colony Hardware. 

Hybrid, a manufacturer of zero-emissions, battery-powered portable generators, immediately gains access to Colony's extensive construction industry clientele.

The stocking dealership agreement with Colony entails direct sales, rentals and client introductions. This strategic collaboration also allows Hybrid to penetrate a U.S. construction sector anxious to replace the highly polluting and noisy diesel generators found on building sites with the company's portable cleantech generators.

Particularly encouraging for Hybrid is Colony's bullish projection of $2.75 million in Hybrid product sales for the last seven months of 2024 that includes its signature line of "Batt Pack" portable generators: the Energy, Pro and Jupiter models.

Death knell for diesel 

Hybrid's eco-friendly portable generators boast a wide range of industrial applications, including the hard-to-abate construction and mining sectors' reliance on traditional, carbon-spewing diesel generators. 

Hybrid CEO Francois Byrne has been on a sustainable mission ever since earning his BEng degree in 2013 after completing studies in sustainable renewable energy engineering at Ottawa's Carleton University. He then earned an MBA at ACUniversity in Melbourne, Australia prior to returning to Canada where he founded Hybrid Power Solutions in 2015.

"We are going to replace fossil fuel-based generators with fuel-free and hybrid generators ranging in size from 3,000 watts to megawatt size," Byrne said in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada. 

"We are making a major push over the remainder of this year. We have built up fantastic momentum and we need to get the word out to this (untapped) market.

"For us, 2024 is about creating market demand, demonstrating our products and getting initial orders. But landing big orders takes time, and we want to reach that next level in the coming year . . . I would love to be over the $10 million (revenue) mark in 2025."

Making sustainable inroads to the construction industry

One of the primary benefactors of Hybrid's battery-powered generators is a construction industry heavily reliant on diesel generators emitting more than twice the greenhouse gases of fossil-fuel fired energy grids, not to mention harmful particulate matter. Batt Packs offer another opportunity to wean the industry off diesel.

"We're seeing fantastic adoption in the construction sector," Byrne said. "Our company is offering a solution this industry is unaware of. But when we went on site and introduced our Batt Packs to construction companies, they immediately saw that our portable generators not only deliver superior performance but are smaller, lower maintenance, longer lasting and more cost effective over time."

Another advantage of Batt Packs is that they can be charged in the field by means of attached solar panels - rendering the units 100 per cent sustainable. 

"There was a corresponding recognition from sustainability departments pushing for products like ours to help them reach their (decarbonization) targets . . . And they have a budget allocation for this that we can tap into." 

Hybrid's appeal to local utilities

In May, Hybrid closed a deal with an unnamed major Canadian utility for the sale and installation of the Batt Pack Pro model that can be mounted on repair and maintenance trucks to power and recharge equipment without the usual need for idling these vehicles. 

Byrne explained how utilities can profit from the portability of Batt Packs.

"When utility trucks are sent to repair gas lines or hydro poles, they use air compressors and other tools which need recharging. We can mount the Batt Pack on trucks which can be easily removed and placed as far as 600 feet away . . . And while these vehicles are driving around, (the system) is constantly recharging off the engine.

"Our generators are going to be bread and butter applications for utility crews working in remote areas and having no access to power."

Mining, military, EMS and developing countries 

In the mining industry, fuel-free generators can power equipment above ground as well as underground and in confined spaces where diesel generators are impractical due to ventilation issues.

Other potential customers include military forces operating in hostile locations where fuel resupply is difficult; emergency medical service (EMS) units responding to on site emergencies; and outdoor events organizers whose attendees will appreciate the zero emissions of Hybrid's generators.

Developing nations with fragmentary power grids are also on Hybrid's radar.

"There's massive potential in these markets," Byrne said. "We recently visited Nigeria which has a population of over 200 million and a terrible power grid. People might get 12 to 16 hours a day of power if they're lucky. Everybody runs off (fuel) generators and many people have no electricity at all. 

"Instead of a country spending vast sums on building massive coal- or oil-fired power plants, we can install small grids that are a new way of delivering reliable power (where traditional infrastructure is lacking)."