Access All Areas September 2022 | Page 61

SEPTEMBER | SECTOR FOCUS

R & D going into the next generation of electrolsyers , used to convert water into hydrogen : “ We ’ re teamed up with TTP – The Technology Partnership in Cambridge – on the development of a version that looks like moving current electrolyser performance efficiency from 40 % to around 90 %.” Irving anticipates PlusZero having a demonstrator model deployed on its Western Isles site in early 2024 .
Pearce Hire , which provides power , lighting , audio and rigging services , has recently worked on events such as Detonate Festival and AEG / Senbla open air concerts at various venues around the country .
Pearce Hire MD and founder Shaun Pearce says all its festoon now use LED lamps and it has converted most of the floodlighting to LED sources . It also provides photocell controllers to switch off the site lighting between the hours of dawn and dusk .
Pearce adds that all its own generators run 100 % on Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil ( HVO ) fuel : “ Where possible we try and use HVO across all projects , but this can depend on both the generator supplier and organiser .”
He says Pearce Hire uses LED tower lights that it can control with an app to ensure they all switch on and off when required : “ We ’ ve also been using battery tower lights for the campsites [ which are ] another great innovation as they are also very quiet so ideal for this purpose .”
Power Logistics has delivered green power solutions at events this year including Radio 1 ’ s Big Weekend , BST Hyde Park , Boomtown Fair and the Platinum Jubilee celebration events in London .
Operations manager Ian Peniston says the company has introduced several innovative solutions alongside standard practices , including the use of Green D + HVO and utilising the smallest generators possible on a load demand system . Plus power
Data collected at Extreme E analysed the event ’ s carbon footprint
monitoring , LED tower lights and site lighting .
He says sustainable initiatives implemented at Radio 1 ’ s Big Weekend resulted in a 41 % fuel reduction compared to the 2019 event . These included incorporating a second-life battery to optimise energy usage for the event ’ s utilities and the number of generators reduced from 30 to 17 .
For the Jubilee Pageant , Peniston says the firm installed a battery pack on each of the busses and lorries participating to power their PA systems . “ These were recharged using two small generators run on sustainably sourced Green D + HVO . The dressing rooms along the embankment and vehicle searching areas on the South Bank used the existing power supply .”
Peniston says data is the single most important tool at its disposal : “ It is vital to the overall energy management solution . Power monitoring alone just isn ’ t good enough anymore , it should be a component of a much broader strategy .
“ This includes analysis of the data to ensure that energy usage is optimised at every stage , then taking the data gathered at each event to improve the system and make energy and carbon emission savings year on
Energy was created by fans cycling on kinetic bikes on Coldplay ’ s tour
year . We ’ re also using the information gleaned to update and introduce new technologies .”
Peniston says Power Logistics ’ work on electric vehicle off-road racing event Extreme E is an example of the impact that it can have on an event ’ s carbon footprint : “ We ’ ve designed and implemented a bespoke energy management solution that incorporates an electrical package built specifically to meet the event ’ s requirements .”
That involved monitoring all energy used onsite during the build , race weekend and breakdown then analysing the data and ensuring that energy usage was optimised at every stage .
He says , “ The data gathered at each race improves the system and makes energy and carbon emission savings race on race , which in turn reduces the amount of energy used and minimises carbon emissions
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