Increasingly more festivals are committing to sustainability. Not only in Wacken, which this year – once again – made headlines due to the mud fights there, has not only green electricity but also hydrogen been employed. Also in Lingen at this year’s Lautfeuer festival on July 7 and 8 were the stage, lighting and other equipment almost entirely powered with green electricity from hydrogen-run generators.

Since 1981, an “Abifestival” has taken place every year in Lingen that attracts up to 20,000 guests under the motto of “Umsonst & Draußen” (free and outdoors). In collaboration with the H₂ Region Emsland and with support from the City of Lingen as well as the respective regional district, an energy concept was developed already last year in which a fuel cell is used instead of conventional diesel generators. “For this novel approach, Lautfeuer received the German event industry’s innovation prize,” notified Ines Fischer, chairwoman of Abifestival seit 1981 e.V. This year, a second fuel cell was added, so nearly everything was able to be powered this way.

GP Joule has been supporting Wacken Open Air as early as 2018 and supplies the metal festival in Northern Germany with electricity from green hydrogen. The self-produced H₂ gas is converted to electricity in two H₂Genset modules from SFC Energy. The electricity obtained from renewable energy will then be used from the opening on Monday, July 31 until the end of the festival. Additionally, GP Joule is deploying one of its eFarm hydrogen buses as a shuttle for the guests.

CEO Ove Petersen stated, “Green and black – that goes together in the North. Wacken Open Air and GP Joule are proving it.” Peter Podesser, CEO of SFC Energy, supplemented, “Fuel cells based on green hydrogen are a perfect solution for secure, mobile energy supply for open air events.”