Innovation Project of the Year: Products and Hardware

For innovative physical technologies, equipment and hardware-led solutions that have been designed, built or trialled to cut emissions or energy demand.

The finalists

Elemental Energy & Protium Green Solutions

Mini Trailer

The Elemental Energy Mini Trailer is a towable unit that delivers green hydrogen to sites without grid access, aimed at the gap between small cylinder supplies too limited for real operations and bulk deliveries requiring heavy goods vehicles and specialist handling. It stores hydrogen at up to 381 bar with onboard pressure management, so gas can be used directly for power generation or refuelling without additional let-down equipment, and sets up without tools. Protium Green Solutions supplies the hydrogen and deployment expertise. Each trailer carries up to 99kg of hydrogen, displacing diesel generators on construction sites, film production, festivals and industrial operations.

Haydale

JustHeat

JustHeat is a low-voltage electric underfloor heating system developed by Haydale from more than a decade of graphene research in South Wales. Graphene conducts heat rapidly, and the product takes the form of a thin, flexible film running at 48V, allowing it to be laid in existing buildings without the disruption a wet system would require. Independent testing recorded warm-up from 22C to 30C in around 75 seconds, up to 39% lower energy use than conventional electric underfloor heating, and room-by-room control. It is compatible with solar, battery storage and smart controls, and holds UL certification for safety and performance.

LNER & Treeva Wind Turbines

Power from Passing Trains

LNER and Treeva have installed three compact off-grid wind turbines beside the tracks near Hitachi's Craigentinny depot, capturing the turbulent airflow created by trains passing at up to 125mph. The rationale is that railways combine large amounts of unused lineside land with a reliable, if artificial, source of moving air, so power can be generated without acquiring land, arranging grid connections or building major infrastructure. The turbines, built partly from upcycled materials, run lighting, CCTV and environmental sensors at the depot. To 10 June the three units had generated 167.67kWh between them, averaging 0.92kWh each per day.

Sky

Clean Power System for Film and TV Production

Sky has built a mobile power unit combining a 70kW hydrogen fuel cell with a 270kWh sodium battery bank, delivering 75kW continuously and peaks to 100kW as a replacement for diesel generators on productions. Around half of emissions from large film and TV productions come from burning fossil fuels, with mobile power responsible for roughly 15%. The batteries handle peak loads while the fuel cell recharges them; control software developed in-house coordinates the two. The unit runs on certified green hydrogen, emits only water and heat, and uses sodium batteries that are non-flammable and fully recyclable.

Simply Washrooms

EcoPot Period Product Dispenser

Simply Washrooms has developed a period product dispenser 3D-printed in the UK from recycled PLA, a plant-derived polymer, as an alternative to the virgin steel units typically manufactured overseas. Produced with Batch.Works, each dispenser weighs 133g against roughly 10.6kg for a steel equivalent and is compact enough to sit on a countertop or inside a cubicle. Units are returned at end of life for reprocessing. The company reports that 100 recycled PLA dispensers account for 34kg CO2e compared with 3,681kg for the same number in steel, a 99% reduction, and that the product is now installed across 70 client sites.

SolGen

Mobile Solar Tracking Hybrid Generator

SolGen has developed a road-towable unit combining solar generation, lithium battery storage, energy management software and an HVO-compatible backup generator, for sites without a grid connection. Temporary power on construction, rail and utilities projects is still commonly supplied by diesel generators running continuously even when demand is low; SolGen draws on solar and battery first and starts the generator only when needed. At an Anglian Water site in Basildon, one unit powered three offices, a toilet block, drying room and water bowser for 62 days, meeting 91% of demand from solar and saving 7,375 litres of fuel and 23,378kg of CO2.

XL Batteries

Organic Flow Battery

XL Batteries, founded by Columbia University scientists, has developed a utility-scale flow battery that replaces vanadium – scarce, corrosive and costly – with a proprietary organic electrolyte made from abundant commodity chemicals that is non-toxic, pH-neutral and water-based. Where lithium-ion typically provides two to four hours of storage and carries fire and thermal runaway risks, the system is designed to store energy for up to 250 hours without significant degradation, supporting renewable firming and peak shaving in place of gas peaking plant. In 2025 the company commissioned its first fully integrated commercial pilot with Stolthaven Terminals.