Access Equipment in Energy Infrastructure

The demand for energy in today’s world is large and growing, and the energy sector is one of the most dynamic areas of business and construction today, with government and industry working together to meet society’s needs. We are all doing our part to establish energy security and to make the energy mix more sustainable. Even Force has a part to play; outsized and overhead infrastructure needs to be built and maintained, and that requires access equipment. From high voltage overhead lines to wind turbines, elevated work platforms on booms and travel towers are absolutely indispensable to workers in the energy sector.

A Shifting Energy Mix

The energy mix is usually expressed as a pie chart or a graph. It shows what percentage of each type of fuel goes to meet our demand for energy, and it includes the fuels that help us generate electricity as well as the fuels we use directly, like natural gas for heating. Here in Australia, we still derive a large percentage of our energy from fossil fuels. Coal provides power for many of our large electrical generators. However, there is a shift happening. We are moving toward using more renewable energy sources, like wind and solar power, and away from using fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are a limited resource that will eventually run out.

New Electrical Infrastructure

The move to using more solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy means more spread out, evenly distributed electricity generation. That is, rather than being generated in just a few places where there are nuclear power plants, coal burning plants or natural gas plants that produce the vast majority of electricity we use, electricity is being generated and added to the power grid in many different places. For example, solar panels on residential roofs feed solar energy into the grid when the sun is out. Wind turbines on farmers’ land add power when the wind makes them turn. As renewables become more common, the electrical grid is being expanded to take them on board. Because there’s no efficient way to store electricity once it’s been generated, adding power that’s produced by renewable energy sources to the electrical grid is the best way to incorporate them into the energy mix.

Access Equipment Hire throughout Australia

As the grid is expanded to bring in energy from new, renewable sources, the demand for access equipment hire is growing. Insulated travel towers, which are designed not to conduct electricity, are in especially high demand for work on energy infrastructure projects. Because they are mobile units, they can easily be put to work on new power lines, pylons and turbines in remote areas. At Force, we’re excited about what’s happening in electricity generation and infrastructure today, and we are ready to provide insulated travel tower hire and any other access equipment and training that’s needed to meet the growing demand.