Joe GallopHydrogen power business Hydrologiq deployed the first 100kVA hydrogen-powered generator at the 2022 edition of Boomtown Fair (cap. 66,000).
The generator provided power to the public transport hub for the week preceding the festival and all four days of its runtime from 10-14 August.
Hydrologiq said the first deployment of a large hydrogen generator at Boomtown will “build trust” in the festival industry that hydrogen generators can be an alternative to traditional diesel power.
Hydrogen fuel-cell generators are near-silent and produce water as their only by-product – no NOx, particulates or CO2e emitted on location, with lower total CO2e footprints.
Alongside collaborating with Hydrologiq to deploy hydrogen, Boomtown also transitioned from diesel to biofuel this year in a bid to reduce its carbon footprint even further.
The generator used for the deployment at Boomtown was a GEH2, sourced from Hydrologiq suppliers EODev. Hydrogen was provided by BOC and the deployment was supported by the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Hydrologiq director Aran Bates said, “Many don’t realise it but festivals consume a huge amount of energy and resources. They are literally large pop-up towns, and with that comes all the significant plumbing and electricity demands of a large town. We want people to keep enjoying these fantastic social and cultural experiences, but in a way that is kind to our planet so our children will be able to enjoy them too. Hence, we have to find alternative sources of energy that meet both aims, and hydrogen is one of those alternatives.
“Yet switching from traditional diesel generators in the festival event space is not merely a question of cost or willingness to shift. There are some real technical and operational differences to other industries, such as that of construction or film. Both the electrical loads experienced but also the operational and site set-up requirements can be very different. This means that both technology and operations need to be considered appropriately for hydrogen to take the place of diesel.”