Boomtown 2026- Behind the scenes at hydrogen powered Hydro XL

Boomtown festival is back at Matterley Estate, running from August 12 to 16, with one of its main stages, the Hydro XL, powered entirely by hydrogen.

This year, the 20,000-capacity stage features Skrillex, Four Tet, and Groove Armada.

I got the chance to go behind the scenes to see how it all works.

The Hydro XL stage (Image: Newsquest)

Mark Rankine, an electrical engineer for green-hydrogen company GeoPura, gave us a tour around the site.

He explained that the stage is powered by generators that create electricity with hydrogen fuel cells and self-charging Hydrogen Power Unit batteries, offering an alternative to diesel generators.

The hydrogen cells (Image: Newsquest)

He said: “We have got a lot of power here. We can power anything.

“It’s very much in the spirit of Boomtown.”

Last year, Boomtown trialled the 8,000-capacity Hydro stage with the same technology and this year, have taken it further.

The Hydrogen Power Unit batteries (Image: Newsquest)

Unlike diesel generators, which produce exhaust emissions and noise, the hydrogen units have pure H20 as the only by-product.

Mark handed us a cup and invited us to try the water- which tasted like warm water!

Water as the by-product (Image: Newsquest)

After our tour, we were taken to the side of the stage for a set by DJ Nimino, to see the hydrogen-powered magic in action.

Looking around the stage, it was amazing to realise that everything was being powered green!

Geopura has been working in the events sector for around five years with Hydro XL representing a ‘flagship deployment’.

Side of stage for Nimino's set at Hydro XL (Image: Newsquest)

The company has also worked in productions for Netflix, Amazon and BBC Spring Watch.

They have also worked with British Summer Time Hyde Park, Edinburgh Summer Sessions and Big Church Festival.