V2X in resilience solution showcased at festival

Two electric cars are more than enough to power a stage and a festival area. At a festival in Mariefred, it is demonstrated how bidirectional electric car charging can play an important role in preparing society for crises.

The atmosphere is electric when Petter gets the audience going in front of the Gripsholm Festival’s stage. Of course, this is not enough to power the sound and lighting system or the rest of the festival area for that matter. The electricity for this comes instead from two Tesla cars that are parked a short distance away. The Gripsholm Festival is the first music festival in the Nordic region to be run completely off-grid. 

Only solar cells and electric cars

The heart of the festival’s energy system is two specially designed battery containers where you can connect both solar panels and diesel generators. GridhubM45 is developed by HS Solteknik and this is the first time that electric cars are also used as a power source. The parked cars are connected to GridhubM45 via four Ferroamp V2X chargers.

“The entire festival was run solely on solar power and electricity from the electric cars, the diesel generators were not needed. On Saturday it rained, so then over 90 percent of the electricity came from the cars.” says Stefan Inggårde at HS Solteknik.

The Ferroamp V2X has a maximum power of 20 kW and two cars are enough to run the entire festival for several hours, even when the lights and sounds are running at full speed. They are then replaced by two other cars while they drive away to charge.

“The cars work as mobile power banks and we could choose where we wanted to go and charge depending on where it was cheapest at the time.” says Hampus Carlsson at HS Solteknik.

The Gripsholm Festival was held at the end of August on the outskirts of Mariefred adjacent to the 16th-century castle. There is no electricity grid connection that is powerful enough to run a festival for 1,500 people. Being able to run off-grid is thus a prerequisite for being able to carry out the festival, but it is also a good opportunity to demonstrate how the technology can be used in the event of a crisis.

Flexible solution

According to a proposal from the government, safety points will become mandatory in every municipality from 2027. This means that uniform guidelines have now been drawn up for gathering places where the municipality’s residents will be able to turn in the event of a crisis and have access to information, water, weather protection, first aid and, not least, electricity.

The idea with the GridhubM45 is that it can be used for this purpose. In everyday use, it can be connected to the grid and used like any other battery – to save solar power or cut power peaks. If the power goes out, it seamlessly switches to backup power operation. Since the containers are movable, several units can be placed around a municipality and in the event of a crisis then moved to the areas where capacity is most needed.

European Products

For security reasons, only European products are included and GridhubM45 is built in Sweden. This is both about ensuring data and grid security and about making it possible to get hold of spare parts in the event of disruptions in the global transport chains.

“The basic idea is that it should be super simple and very robust. In addition to municipalities, we also see an interest from private players such as agriculture and in the telecom sector, where the requirements for security are high.” says Stefan Inggårde.