npd and MSP Technologies help power Glastonbury Festival

At npd, what drives us is doing good. It sounds like a simple aim - do good - but this can be a challenge when we are asked to design products which we just don’t believe deserve to exist. We will all be familiar with products on the market that, quite frankly, should never have been created. We are sometimes asked to design products that would not only fail to positively contribute to our world but may also pose significant harm to our environment. In a world facing significant challenges such as climate change and resource depletion, it’s crucial to critically assess the products we choose to support. 

We are fortunate enough to work with inspiring individuals and companies who are driven by a commitment to improve our world and our work with Multi Source Power is right up there on this mission. MSP, a British manufacturer of energy storage systems, is working to enable the UK and countries around the world to achieve their net zero carbon ambitions - and we are proud to support them with our design, manufacturing and engineering expertise. 

The Glastonbury Festival, the world's largest music and arts festival, recently benefited from the innovative energy solution: a pre-charged battery energy storage system (BESS). We are thrilled to have been given the opportunity to work on such an innovative system, which powered key areas of the event including the iconic Arcadia stage. Our partnership with MSP is longstanding, with a history of successful joint projects, that are brought to life with our collective ambition of ‘doing good’ - designing systems that won’t harm our environment. 

npd and MSP are focused on contributing to a better, more eco-friendly world with batteries which are better for our environment and last longer, making them more sustainable. BESS, the pre-charged energy storage system used to power the Arcadia stage, helped to decarbonise the festival environment, making it safer for performers and party-goers. Supported by HVO biofuels and a solar array for charging, the battery covered the load across the three performance days and the five pre-show days. The system is a remarkable achievement and one which npd are incredibly proud to have worked on. 

Successful Product Design Needs Successful Collaboration

Our product design engineer, Rosie Alexander, summarises npd’s feelings towards our ongoing work with MSP perfectly: “Seeing the BESS unit at Glastonbury put into perspective the impact of what our work has done to promote cleaner power and lower carbon emissions at events like festivals. The project did have some challenges to overcome, the units are now linked above ground by the corners and getting this to work in multiple configurations was a challenge but the result is that they no longer require trenching in order to connect them, improving their versatility in different environments. The project was incredibly rewarding and we are looking forward to working on similar projects in the future, as well as the ongoing relationship with MSP.”

Look out for the BESS’s contributions to even more carbon reductions at other upcoming events, including Womad and a Massive Attack show, with plans to expand further next year.

Find out more about our work on our website and socials.