Power to the people
From HVO to Hydrogen , Access speaks to event power suppliers and experts about the latest sustainability developments in the sector
HebCelt Fesival was powered by green hydrogen
Words : Joe Gallop
Organisers are under increasing pressure to provide sustainable energy solutions at live events , with many introducing green initiatives while having to battle against rising costs and other industry challenges . The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games , Coldplay ’ s groundbreaking Music of the Spheres world tour , and Scottish festival HebCelt are examples of events that have led the way , but the industry more broadly has some catching up to do .
In July PlusZero powered Scotland ’ s HebCelt Festival at Stornoway using green hydrogen produced locally on the Scottish Western Isles .
The Scotland-based company , launched in 2020 , consists of two green hydrogen businesses ; PlusZero Energy and PlusZero Power .
PlusZero director of story Mark Irving says although the Western Isles has the highest levels of energy poverty in the UK , it has the potential to be its most rapidly scalable production site for green hydrogen .
Irving says the core advantage of green hydrogen is that it is the gold standard in environmental terms ; zero carbon emissions and zero nitrogen oxides ( NOx ). He says that de-risks it from an investor perspective in terms of regulatory
penalties to which other forms of hydrogen production are subject to . “ It also gives the end user the assurance that this aspect of their own energy use is as clean as it can get ,” he says . “ It ’ s wonderfully circular , made from water , its only byproduct is water . There ’ s something very beautiful in this simplicity , and often that ’ s a good measure of whether something is right .”
Irving says the PlusZero Power business has made the decision to work with and develop internal combustion engines ( ICE ) fuelled by green hydrogen .
Says Irving , “ Utilising wellestablished ICE technology means that we remove the challenge of working with technology that has yet to be fully proven and in which few people are currently trained in .
“ Any mechanic who knows how to run and maintain a combustion engine can use one of our hydrogenfuelled generators .”
Irving says this offers the fastest route to decarbonising portable
“ With proper power advancing information you can match your generator sizes to your actual demand .”
- Tim Benson
power , which is currently the biggest sustainability challenge affecting sectors such as outdoor events and any other sector currently using diesel generators .
He is encouraged by the
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