Milkshake, the festival that takes place every summer at Amsterdam’s Westergasfabriek, was already a pioneer when it comes to throwing a sustainable party: disposable plastic cups have been exchanged for reusable cups, and they only serve vegetarian all dishes. Now, with the help of ZAP Concepts, Milkshake is already ahead of the Amsterdam city council’s ambitious plan to have festivals and events in run solely on grid power by 2020.
With the help of the ZAP Concepts Smart Power Plan, Milkshake’s organisation was able to eliminate most diesel generators. This year’s (2018) edition of the festival ran almost entirely on the Westergasfabriek’s sustainable power, which was supplemented with power from Greener’s new battery.
Sustainability manager Maarten van ‘t Veld says that it used to be difficult to gain insight into the overall power consumption. Paul Schurink of ZAP Concepts has addressed this problem by monitoring power consumption for a year. He also called suppliers to check with them whether the amount of power they had requested corresponded with the actual amount they needed. After preparations were concluded, the Smart Power Plan was implemented.
“As organisers, we have finally gained insight into and control over the actual power consumption. The Smart Power Plan enabled us to reduce the number of aggregates and the level of diesel consumption,” Maarten says. “We wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without the help of ZAP Concepts.”
Maarten calls the level of reliability that ZAP Concepts was able to offer Milkshake’s organisers a vital asset:
“Of course, we always want to prevent a sudden power outage on a stage. Diesel generators cannot even provide that level of reliability, but thanks to the Smart Power Plan we now have power groups and meters everywhere. Now we have a detailed overview of the amount of power each stage requires. Moreover, there has not been a single power outage this year. CO2 emissions have been reduced, and we have even saved on our costs. If you’re organising an event or festival and you want to be a pioneer when it comes to sustainable power consumption, you’re going to need Paul. Not only has he created the Smart Power Plan; what makes him extraordinary, is his talent to turn that plan into a compelling business case for festival organisations. Our plan for the future is to ensure Milkshake will run entirely on sustainable grid power, supplemented with power from a sustainable battery.”
