The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) is one of the world’s largest airshows and this year attracted nearly 170,000 visitors. Powering such a large-scale event each year requires a high level of organisation and close collaboration with the RIAT team and 2024’s event was no exception. The RIAT team continue their commitment to make the event more sustainable and have clear focus on reducing the environmental impact and enhancing energy efficiency. Power Electrics delivered a hybrid power solution, utilising generators, Battery Energy Storage (BES) units, Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuel and grid peak shaving.
The Challenge:
The primary challenge for RIAT 2024 was to meet the event’s substantial power demands while minimising the environmental impact. Organisers were and continue to be committed to reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions while maintaining the high standards of reliability that are essential for such a high-profile event.
One of the big challenges, in particular, was reducing the generators’ usage of fuel. For 2024, the goal was to continue to reduce fuel usage whilst improving efficiency.
The Solution:
Power Electrics provided a comprehensive battery energy storage solution for RIAT 2024, combining generators and BES units to optimise fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. The project involved:
- 21 BES units deployed in various hybrid configurations alongside generators and for peak shaving the mains grid power supply. These units helped to balance the fluctuating load and reduce the need for the generators to be running constantly. In some circumstances the use of BES units could remove the need for a generator completely.
- 79 generators, ranging in size from 20kVA up to 500kVA, providing a total of over 7MVA power to meet the event’s significant energy requirements.
- Use of HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) fuel for the third year running, a sustainable alternative that lowers greenhouse gas emissions.
The use of BES units in conjunction with generators allowed for more efficient energy management. The BES units did this by storing energy from the grid or the generators and using the stored energy to power the site during quieter periods. The peak shaving of the grid power supplies works in reverse to this, by charging up at low demand times and discharging alongside the mains to remove the need for generation. By doing this it could also support the grid or generators when the power demand exceeded its capacity. This meant less generators were needed, those that were required could be smaller and the amount of time that the generators needed to run was less.
Ahead of this summer’s event, our Ground Operations team tasked Power Electrics to improve efficiency and optimise energy usage at RAF Fairford and we are pleased to report Rob and his team were able to achieve a 36% decrease in the amount of fuel used at the event compared to 2022.
Briony Farmer, Sustainability Co-ordinator at RAFCTE:
Briony Farmer, Sustainability Co-ordinator at RAFCTE:
“Here at RIAT, we are committed to making the event more sustainable. To do this, we must work collaboratively with contractors to implement positive and at times, challenging changes.
“Ahead of this summer’s event, our Ground Operations team tasked Power Electrics to improve efficiency and optimise energy usage at RAF Fairford and we are pleased to report Rob and his team were able to achieve a 36% decrease in the amount of fuel used at the event compared to 2022.
“We look forward to working closely with Rob and Power Electrics as we look ahead to RIAT25 and continue on our sustainability journey.”
The Results
The deployment of this hybrid energy solution delivered significant results for RIAT 2024:
- Fuel consumption was reduced to 36,251 litres, a 16% decrease from 2023.
- Continued use of HVO fuel contributing to lower carbon emissions, supporting the event’s sustainability goals.
- The integration of BES units and optimised load management led to enhanced fuel efficiency, saving thousands of hours of generator runtime. This allowed the organisers to meet their energy needs with fewer emissions and reduced operating costs.
By using cutting-edge battery technology and sustainable fuel choices, Power Electrics helped improve RIAT’s sustainability in 2024. Power Electrics will continue to deliver power to the event and support RIAT to implement more sustainable power options. We are already planning for 2025 with the RIAT team, exploring solar solutions and optimising battery units to minimise generator run time further.
To learn more about how Power Electrics’ can help you with your next project, why not have a read of our environmentally friendly initiative, Journey to Green or check out our BES Units or Stage V generators.
The challenge laid down by the ground ops team at RIAT to remove generators, reduce fuel and give a reliable and sustainable power was a big one, that we met and then surpassed. We were able to reduce the generator count by 50% and achieve great fuel savings against 2023’s event – even with a higher average Power Loading. We are already working on new and exciting areas of renewable energy sources for 2025.
Rob Mason, Project and Solution Manager, Power Electrics.
