Featured Image Credit: Boomtown
The Boomtown festival has announced plans to power one of its stages solely by hydrogen in what it claims to be a UK first.
The Hydro stage at this summer’s event will be powered by hydrogen fuel cell generators which Boomtown and partner Hydrologiq said produce clean, emission-free electricity, only emitting water vapour as a by-product. The initiative will lessen reliance on diesel at the festival and significantly reduce local and on-site carbon emissions.
This year’s 66,000-capacity Boomtown will be held over five days in August at South Downs National Park in Hampshire. The Hydro stage will be headlined by house and techno acts, including Chris Stussy, The Blessed Madonna and Enzo Siragusa.
Luke Mitchell, Boomtown’s creative director, said: “Unbelievably happy to finally launch a major festival stage running entirely on hydrogen power.
“It’s been a real challenge to make this work, but unless we take these big leaps and think creatively, we won’t see the shift that’s so urgently needed. My hope is that this sparks momentum in the right direction – paving the way for temporary events to move towards a truly net-zero future. This is just the beginning, and I can’t wait to see where it leads.”
Boomtown’s hydrogen focus
Hydrologiq will be managing the installation via their operations platform HydrologiqOS. This remotely monitors fuel levels and organises compliant operations on the ground.
The hydrogen-powered stage comes three years after Boomtown and Hydrologiq first collaborated on a hydrogen-powered public transport hub.
Benjamin Lindley, Hydrologiq’s co-founder, said: “That clean, quiet generator for the public transport hub was the first thing Boomtown citizens saw when they got off the bus. It’s fantastic to see Boomtown put hydrogen right at the centre of the city, powering a main stage.”
First staged in 2011, Boomtown consists of eight districts of a fictional city, alongside camping, workshop, and activist areas. In 2025 it will welcome more than 500 musical acts from 24 countries across its numerous stages. Headliners include Sean Paul and Sex Pistols.
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