Pilot result: All the power nee­ded at Frozen People fes­ti­val could be self-gene­ra­ted

Frozen People fes­ti­val was orga­ni­sed for the first time on 12th March 2022 on the sea ice in Nal­li­ka­ri, Oulu, Fin­land. A hybrid off-grid power sta­tion was pilo­ted at the fes­ti­val to gene­ra­te elect­rici­ty for illu­mi­na­ting art ins­tal­la­tions wit­hin the fes­ti­val area. The orga­ni­sers wan­ted to use envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly off-grid power at their event.

Ener­gy specia­list and inven­tor Jan­ne Käpy­leh­to built a power sta­tion con­sis­ting of one wind­mill, three solar panels and three exerci­se bike gene­ra­tors. In total, the power sta­tion gene­ra­ted 2.6 kWh of elect­rici­ty during the fes­ti­val.

On the fes­ti­val day, the sun was shi­ning from a clear blue sky, so most of the power was gene­ra­ted by the solar panels: 2.4 kWh. The wind was excep­tio­nal­ly mild, and the wind­mill gene­ra­ted only 1 Wh of elect­rici­ty. The audience mana­ged to pedal 170 Wh of elect­rici­ty.

Illu­mi­na­ting the art ins­tal­la­tions con­su­med 1.7 kWh. Jan­ne Käpy­leh­to esti­ma­tes that if the ins­tal­la­tions had been illu­mi­na­ted by elect­rici­ty gene­ra­ted by a com­bus­tion engi­ne gene­ra­tor, it would have requi­red 10 lit­res of pet­rol and caused 27 kilos of car­bon dioxi­de emis­sions. The hybrid off-grid sta­tion did not cause any emis­sions whi­le in use.

“The pilot had a small effect on the car­bon footprint of the event, but the magic of the off-grid sta­tion lies in par­tici­pa­tion and demon­stra­tion. The audience saw whe­re the elect­rici­ty comes from and could take part in gene­ra­ting it,” says Käpy­leh­to.

The fes­ti­val gat­he­red 1500 atten­dees alto­get­her. Accor­ding to a sur­vey, 80% of them explo­red the power sta­tion.

The first step towards a sus­tai­nable cul­tu­ral capi­tal year

At the Frozen People fes­ti­val, grid power was uti­li­sed for the PA sys­tem during DJ shows. The festival’s aim is that, in the futu­re, all the power nee­ded at the event could be gene­ra­ted self-suf­ficient­ly and eco­lo­gical­ly.

The PA sys­tem con­su­med 30–40 kWh during the fes­ti­val. To gene­ra­te this much power self-suf­ficient­ly, the off-grid power sta­tion should be ten times big­ger than the one at this year’s event.

Thanks to the success­ful pilot, Frozen People and Jan­ne Käpy­leh­to are like­ly to col­la­bo­ra­te in the coming years and car­ry out new power gene­ra­tion expe­ri­ments.

The hybrid off-grid power sta­tion was part of the green inno­va­tion pilots of the Most Sus­tai­nable Euro­pean Capi­tal of Cul­tu­re pro­ject. Green inno­va­tions for sum­mer events can be sub­mit­ted until 15th May 2022.

The project’s aim is that by the year 2026, when Oulu is the Euro­pean Capi­tal of Cul­tu­re, events in Nort­hern Ostro­both­nia would be as car­bon neut­ral as pos­sible. The Frozen People fes­ti­val, orga­ni­sed by Oulu Urban Cul­tu­re, will be part of the pro­gram­me of the cul­tu­ral capi­tal year.

Pho­tos: San­na Krook, City of Oulu