Provided by Hydrologiq, the EODev GEH2 100kVA fuel cell generator offered a near-silent, emission-free alternative to traditional diesel power, offering a view into what the future of festival power could be.

With Boomtown’s focus on creating a sustainable event for its 65,000 attendees and staff, in addition to the hydrogen-powered generator deployment, H2 View understands the festival also transitioned from diesel to biofuel earlier in 2022 in a bid to reduce its carbon footprint.

“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,” explained Aran Bates, Director of Hydrologiq, “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.”

Hydrologiq’s deployment comes as part of a UK Government Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) funded project to trial the capabilities of replacing diesel generators with hydrogen.

As part of the same trial, it was revealed in June (2022), that the UK start-up had deployed a hydrogen fuel cell generator to Kier Highways for use at a UK National Highways construction site.

Read more: Hydrologiq deploys hydrogen-powered generator to UK road construction site