Power Logistics power V Festival

25 August 2006

UK - The largest ever V Festival took place at Chelmsford's Hylands Park this August , with a capacity crowd of 77,500 enjoying a great and varied weekend of music featuring Morrisey, Faithless, Radiohead, Paul Weller and Fatboy Slim.

Power Logistics has fulfilled all of the temporary power requirements on the festival for 11 years, and this year worked well in advance with production manager Claire Sampson to plan an increased capacity of the site. Sampson says: "Power Logistics has been integral in the success of the event and in creating a relaxed atmosphere at the V Festival site. It's very reassuring knowing they're on site."

With an additional 10,000 people on site compared to previous years, the demands on the Power Logistics team also increased. This year there were more entertainment areas, more concessions, more corporate hospitality areas and the current trend of power requirements increasing as more technology (such as mobile phone recharge points) is used and more bands arrive with fully air-conditioned tour busses.

This all meant that Power Logistics supplied 95 generators and 97 tower lights around the site; with a complex distro system. The biggest of these were the synchronised pairs of 1000kVA sets and a 455kVA twin pack powering the main stage with two pairs of 455kVA twin packs on the second Channel 4 stage.

Power Logistics MD Pete Wills led a team of 14 on site through the 12-day installation, keeping the 192 sets fuelled and running throughout the two show-days, with a further five days to clear the site. Wills says: "There was a lot of expertise and experience within our team that went into ensuring safe, consistent power was maintained across the site at all times, and it was good to see everything running to plan. This has been a very calm event, which also reflects the effective management provided by Claire Sampson and her team."

He continues: "Power Logistics has always had an environmental policy that includes using bunded tanks and taking care to avoid spillages contaminating the ground, which is particularly important in a public park such as Hylands. The Council highlighted to us that in previous years 'spirited revellers' broke a significant number of the bulbs from the festoon lighting we provide for the walkways and campsites. So this year we installed 6 kilometres of festoon with bulbs that had a protective shatterproof film to avoid broken glass contaminating the park land, reducing the impact on the local environment."

(Chris Henry)