Supplier-informed clean power work.
D-Carbon works with suppliers, broadcasters and funders to identify practical barriers to cleaner temporary power and test what makes progress repeatable.
Cleaner power is not yet consistently delivered across film and TV production.
D-Carbon Alliance developed and led a BFI-supported Clean Temporary Power Supplier Working Group to understand the barriers to cleaner temporary power delivery across film and TV production.
The group brought together supplier insight from temporary power, location services, lighting, OB, live events, facilities and monitoring to identify recurring delivery barriers.
Across the workshops, suppliers did not identify a single technology gap or one supplier solution that would make cleaner power consistent across production.
Instead, the discussion repeatedly returned to three system-level needs: better visibility of actual energy use, clearer commercial comparison and earlier ownership of decisions and responsibilities.
These supplier-informed foundations provide a practical structure for turning best practice into more repeatable clean power delivery. They address three missing production questions:
- How do we quantify what good looks like?
- What will it cost?
- Who is responsible for making it happen?
The group helped shape draft delivery foundations and identified key performance metrics, including kWh/L and cost/kWh, so energy and cost performance can be measured more consistently.
Together, these foundations support continuous improvement: productions can forecast earlier, compare options more fairly, review what was actually delivered and feed learning back into future production planning, supplier briefing and commissioning decisions.
This work now informs D-Carbon’s production support, insight reporting and approach to clean power delivery with productions, suppliers and broadcasters.
Three supplier-informed foundations
The foundations are not final standards. They describe shared delivery conditions that suppliers repeatedly identified as necessary for cleaner power to become more visible, comparable and repeatable.
- Energy visibility
Problem: Productions often lack consistent knowledge, evidence or tools to forecast energy demand, system performance or efficiency.
Delivery condition: A shared dataset and simple performance metrics, so energy use can be measured, compared and improved.
Metrics line: This includes practical metrics such as kWh/L, runtime, peak load, fuel use and system use.
- Commercial clarity
Problem: Cleaner options can look more expensive when only upfront hire cost is visible.
Delivery condition: Whole-system cost comparison, including fuel, hire cost, carbon, operating days and energy performance.
Method line: This includes comparing standard practice, a preferred cleaner option and what actually happened.
- Ownership and delivery
Problem: Clean power ambition can fall between commissioning expectations, production budgets, supplier delivery and on-site responsibility.
Delivery condition: Clearer decision points, roles and feedback loops from planning through to delivery and review.
Continuous improvement line: This helps barriers and learning feed into future production planning, supplier briefing and commissioning decisions.
Together, these foundations support continuous improvement: clearer evidence, fairer comparison, better decisions and learning that carries into the next production.
SPARK: Clean Temporary Power by 2030
Read the SPARK Clean Temporary Power by 2030 resource on albert, including supplier-informed foundations for improving clean temporary power delivery across film and TV production.
Read the SPARK resourceTesting cleaner power in real production conditions.
D-Carbon works with suppliers, broadcasters and funders to test cleaner temporary power in real production conditions — capturing measured data, supplier learning and production insight so results can be compared, understood and repeated.