Groen Oerrock is a pioneer in the Netherlands

Tue May 7, 5:20 PM

Culture

URETERP Oerrock has one very big change this year, but festival goers won’t notice anything. The energy required for the event in Ureterp comes from the solar park located next to the festival site. “Foar sapphire’t we white, within we the first festival that emisjefrij hâldt.”

Oerrock chairman Sietze Boonstra is keeping his distance, but he is actually sure. Oerrock is a leader in the events world with a completely CO2-neutral organized festival. A conscious choice, says Boonstra. Oerrock met the specified nitrogen standards, but the criteria are expected to become stricter in the future.

Then you can wait or respond proactively, was the thought. This choice was further facilitated by the presence of the solar park located next to the festival site on the Skieppeleane with 12,000 solar panels from sponsor and former Oerrock board member, Sjors Boonstra. The solar park produces a capacity of 4.3 megawatts.

The possibility of obtaining power from the ‘neighbor’ was already suggested by owner Sjors Boonstra when the solar park opened in 2020. However, it would take until 2023 before a serious plan of action was developed. That postponement had to do with corona, but also with the initial calculations that showed that the purchase of two transformer stations was necessary for the power supply.

Battery packs

Too expensive a solution, according to Oerrock’s Green Team, which was tasked with finding out what was needed to organize an emission-free Oerrock. During the search for alternatives, the possible solution of Greener battery packs came up. In 2022, the first edition after corona, one supporting battery pack was used as a trial. “We are very skeptical about fans,” says Jos Dijk of the Green Team, looking back on that first experience. That assessment was a misconception. According to Dijk, it is about the ability to accommodate peak times. “The majority of the time we left in a quarter of the fermogen.” When necessary, the power stored in the Greeners is used. “That works fine.”

The battery packs already came in handy last year, when one of the old diesel generators failed for more than an hour. The Greeners turned out to be a solution. Dijk: “There are some fan names.” The good experiences were a reason to continue. The Green Team and Oerrock’s Technical Team drew up a plan together. A year later, faster than expected, Oerrock switched to green energy. A lot had to be done for this. Fortunately, the owner of the solar park fully cooperated. In addition, the municipality of Opsterland cooperated with a subsidy of 25,000 euros and the issuance of the necessary permits. Oerrock called on the reserves for the remainder of the financing of the investment of 130,000 euros.

Big job

Over the past month and a half, volunteers and sponsors have been working hard every Saturday to create the necessary infrastructure. A big and tough job. “We kept everything clean and untrue every time,” says Frank de Vegt, board member and member of the Technical Committee. Main sponsor Algra and employees of Verkley and Liander also helped selflessly on a number of Saturdays.

A transformer with three battery packs has been installed on the site. In addition, thirteen (permanent) distribution stations have been installed throughout the site, which are connected to a ring pipeline. For this purpose, a cable of more than two kilometers in length has been installed in the ground in recent months. The entire festival site is supplied with power via the distribution stations.

The 2024 edition only uses green energy. This means that the festival runs without diesel generators and without CO2 emissions. However, as a backup, five of the twelve previously used diesel generators will remain in place. Diesel consumption is thus kept to a minimum. “We expect that we will not be able to do this,” says Boonstra.

Two megawatts

Oerrock uses two megawatts of electricity per festival day. The capacity supplied by the solar park ensures the power supply, says De Vegt. “Even if the conditions were just ideal, we were in a good position.” In addition, Sjors Boonstra would like to realize a solar park on the east side of the festival site. “As that battle, we are more like neither.”

Oerrock wants to become more sustainable in the future. Next year, electrically powered shovels and Manitous may be used for construction. The current carts used to transport materials and bands across the site are already electrically powered. De Vegt: “We are here to stay, but the supplier is here to stay and we will deliver the ferbrâning engine. Dy wolle we net, ha we ferteld him.”

Additional buses

Oerrock uses more coaches to transport festival goers to reduce the number of cars and inherently nitrogen emissions around the festival. The Oerrock board is proud of what has been achieved in a short period of time. “This is a unique achievement for the Netherlands. It just doesn’t matter, we fold to all norms, but we never have to respect our custom-like fervor.”