When planning an outdoor event, whether it’s a music festival, winter illuminations, street food market, Christmas light switch-on, or even a private party or wedding in an outdoor location, at some point you’ll need to think about how to power all your fantastic lights and speakers. Caterers need power to run kettles, lights, and heaters, and entertainment will have all sorts of electrical items that they may need to plug in.

So how do you get power in the middle of a field? 

The first thing many people will jump to is a generator. Generators are big engines, usually powered by petrol or diesel, which are hooked up to a system to produce electricity. Whilst they can be practical and powerful, they have their drawbacks, such as noise and pollution. So it’s important to try and balance your power needs with the most efficient generator option possible. 

Alternatives to Generators

Before pulling the trigger on a potentially expensive and polluting generator hire, there are some alternatives you could consider. These are listed below:

• Using grid power. Many large outdoor sites do now have power sockets somewhere nearby, even if not in the exact location of your event. It may be possible to run additional cables to get this power to where you need it. If it’s a regularly occurring or large-scale event, you could even speak with the site and the National Grid about having a power supply installed. 
• Hybrid or Solar power systems. There are a few companies that operate more sustainable power options such as hybrid generators, which use solar power to support the main engine, or even completely solar-powered generator systems with no engine at all. While these are generally smaller, less capable, and more expensive than diesel or petrol options, you should consider whether your event is of a certain size and type that makes these solutions ideal. 
• Using battery-based solutions. While this is unlikely to work for an event with a large power demand, for smaller scale events you could consider using items such as battery-powered speakers and lights to remove the need for on-site power altogether. 

Planning Your Power Needs

Whichever power delivery option you choose, your first step should be to develop an idea of how much electricity you are going to need, in the form of a ‘power plan’. The simplest form this can take is a list of all of the items you need to provide electricity for, and how much power they need, in Watts. Speak to caterers and other suppliers who should be able to provide you with their needs. You will also need to consider whether this equipment will be powered on at all times, or just for select times during the event.

Once you have this information, you can then total this to get your event’s maximum power ‘draw’ requirements, and create a power plan. If your event has more than a few powered elements, it’s strongly advisable to enlist the help of a professional outdoor events company to help with this.

Once you have your total power requirements in Watts or Kilowatts, you can use this number to calculate your required generator size. Generators are usually measured in kVA, which is a number that dictates how much power they are able to supply at maximum capacity. 

Enlightened have developed a simple calculator you can use to approximate your required generator size here: https://enlx.co.uk/resources/generator-power-calculator-kva-watts-amps

Once you have this number, you can speak with a generator hire company to understand how much your required generator is likely to cost. It’s important to note that you are likely to require additional items such as cables, power distribution boards (‘distros’) and other ancillary items to convert what comes from your generator into useable electricity. Therefore we would once again strongly recommend speaking with a complete outdoor event solutions provider to design a complete power plan and supply everything you might need. 

Any temporary power installation work will also need to be signed off to ‘BS7909’ standards to ensure it is safe and compliant. You should employ a competent, qualified contractor to complete this work. Enlightened’s qualified electricians can assist with this element.

If you’d like more information or advice on designing power plans and powering an outdoor event, our skilled and experienced team are happy to help. Just contact festivals@enlx.co.uk or call 01179 727123