Glastonbury organisers have confirmed the iconic Pyramid Stage’s production offices will be powered by a new anaerobic digester this summer.
Production associated with the festival’s main stage will run on power from the 124-kilowatt digestion plant, as will some other backstage areas.
The new anaerobic digester at Worthy Farm converts cow manure into methane gas, which then drives a generator.
Electricity generated will power Worthy Farm and Glastonbury’s onsite offices year-round, with surplus power fed back into the National Grid.
In support of the planning application, Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis said: “This renewable energy source fits with our ethos of supporting green initiatives as the anaerobic digestion plant captures and uses emissions of methane and other greenhouses gases, which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.”
“There will be no noise associated with the operation of the equipment and it will vastly reduce the smell that comes from the slurry spreading on the farm at present. There will also be no additional plant/vehicle movements through the village as nothing will be imported or grown to feed the anaerobic digestion plant.”
Glastonbury’s Worthy Farm home is an active dairy farm, and milk produced by the resident herd of dairy cows is sold throughout the festival.
The farm has already installed 1,100 solar panels on the roof of the cattle shed, providing enough power for 40 homes from one of the largest privately owned solar photovoltaic systems in the country.
The ‘Pee-Power Project’ creates electricity from Glastonbury’s urine, a collaboration between Bristol University and the University of West England.
Low power LED lighting is used around the Glastonbury site, with the Green Fields area and Croissant Neuf stage run entirely on wind and solar power.
Stages in Theatre & Circus and The Park run on biofuel derived from cooking oil and other sources. The festival also uses a ground source heat pump to heat their offices.
Glastonbury have previously promised to ban plastic bottles ban plastic bottles ahead of this summer’s festival, though this hasn’t yet appeared in the festival’s waste policy.
Tickets for the festival have been sold out since last October.

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