Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Capturing the Imagination: Cloudbass Takes the Future of Battery-Powered Live Sports Production Forwards with Speedway

08/07/2024

Capturing the imagination: Cloudbass takes the future of battery-powered live sports production forwards with Speedway By Heather McLean

Tuesday, July 2, 2024 - 09:10

Print This Story

Cloudbase took a Speedway production for TNT Sports to a new level by powering it from 10 Tesla batteries

Cloudbass took sustainable production to the next level recently with a Speedway production using 10 Powerwall batteries to bring the production home. The day at Perry Barr Stadium, Birmingham for TNT Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery [29 April 2024] finished with 30% battery power remaining at the end of the broadcast, and 20% left by the time the derig was finished, making it a huge success.

This first for the UK, says Cloudbass managing director Steve Knee, is just the first step in a longer road to making all live sports productions a lot more sustainable. On the results, Knee says while this experiment was successful, the next step is making it suitable and working out the use cases for larger OBs.

This rig will handle small and medium-sized productions. There's a piece of work to do in terms of if we needed to have a rig day, because you would need to potentially be able to charge it up overnight between the rig day and the TX day. You would be relying on a bit of shore power for that, but the type of shore power that you might need is potentially different to what you need for a live OB, he says.

We are looking at ways of how we could split up the electrical requirements on a larger OB. We've always worked very closely with Sky so we're looking at ways that we can potentially move this into the Scottish Premier League for Sky on larger productions. But again, that needs another level of thinking about the power use and the workflow on site and how we do things. That may be relying on shore power in Scottish Premier League venues for most of the time, but then you wouldn't want to be on that shore power during the broadcast in case there was a problem with it.

He says that the Tesla Powerwall technology could be used to add much-needed redundancy into larger OBs. It might be that we could use this solution to give us confidence that we have a way of going to air, which is then isolated from anything else that's going on.

He notes: On where it's going, we'd love to move away from diesel gen sets across the board, but the next piece of work is how do we now take this to a larger facility where you can't be a remote production or can't be a cloud production, where you still have a desire to go on site and do things for a number of days. Looking at solutions for that is the next step.

Cloudbase MD Steve Knee says that Tesla Powerwall technology could be used to add much-needed redundancy into larger OBs

Capturing the imagination

On why Cloudbass went for Tesla, Knee explains that three of the company's directors installed Powerwalls at home a year ago to learn more. He comments: We had the experience with Tesla personally, and I also wanted to get the attention of Tesla because as an outside broadcast provider, we are absolutely ready and waiting for the new Tesla tractor units, the Tesla Semis that they've been rolling out to PepsiCo in America.

When those semis scale up and become available to haulage, I know and we know from our financials around running big trucks we will buy them straight away because the cost savings from running electric trucks will be immense compared to diesel trucks.

The Tesla Powerwalls can be charged from solar energy, and then the power generated if not needed can be sold back to Tesla Energy. This means the new Tesla trucks could make Cloudbass revenue, Knee notes: Potentially when this truck is sat in base doing nothing, it can be buying and selling electricity to the grid and making us money.

Cloudbass uses a renewable energy supplier at its Derbyshire base already, which means it is able to charge the batteries in a sustainable way. It is set to put solar panels on the trucks themselves so in between jobs, the sun can charge the batteries. Also, in anticipation of the Tesla Semi trucks becoming available, it is in the process of installing a 420 panel solar array at its headquarters to power those.

However, on whether there are alternatives to Tesla in this situation, Knee says. Yes, but a lot of them are at least twice the price. And I'll be completely frank, Tesla catches the imagination; if you mention Tesla, suddenly people sit up and take notice.

Cloudbass recently ran a first of its kind trial in sustainability for TNT Sports, with the main broadcast powered by 10 Tesla Powerwall batteries

Comfortable business case

As to the business case for this type of set up, today the solution created by Cloudbass is around double the cost of one using traditional diesel generators. However, while a 10-strong Powerwall solution may cost around £60,000 to put together, the electricity, if sourced from renewable means, will be significantly lower in cost than the generator option over time.

Knee adds: It'll get to a point where we'll get very, very comfortable in terms of broadcasting and relying on a battery solution, so you won't need to take a generator; you'll know that you've got enough power in the solution and it'll be much more reliable than having to factor in generators or other forms of redundant power if you need it.

So yes, I think in the short term this is more expensive in terms of the initial outlay probably about twice the price compared to a typical generator solution but you'll quickly make that back [due to running costs of this solution versus diesel fuel]. And of course it's how it's perceived by customers because obviously everyone wants to go green in the best way possible.

Key for sustainability

Summing up, Knee says
LINK: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/capturing-the-imagination-clo...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

14/05/2026

Sweetwater and Airstream Unveil Mobile Dolby Atmos Recording Studio

Sweetwater and Airstream have announced a custom-built Dolby Atmos mobile recording studio inside an Airstream trailer, set to tour music festivals, schools, tr...

14/05/2026

American Association of Professional Baseball Expands Broadcast Distribution for 2026 Season

The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has announced a new par...

14/05/2026

ESPN to Establish Week-Long Super Bowl LXI Broadcast Center on Santa Monica Beach

ESPN has announced plans to transform Santa Monica Beach into a broadcast hub du...

14/05/2026

Amagi Announces Major Upgrade to CLOUDPORT Cloud Broadcast Platform

Amagi has announced a significant update to Amagi CLOUDPORT, its cloud-based broadcast playout platform. The update includes 250-plus features shipped in FY25-2...

14/05/2026

Clear-Com to Showcase New Products and Platform Updates at InfoComm 2026

Clear-Com will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7005, June 17-19, Las Vegas Convention Center), introducing a new product that builds on Arcadia Central Station...

14/05/2026

Ikegami to Exhibit at BroadcastAsia 2026 with Two New Viewfinder Premieres

Ikegami will exhibit at BroadcastAsia 2026 (Stand 5D3-1, Singapore Expo, May 20-22), introducing two new viewfinders alongside its existing camera, control, and...

14/05/2026

dB Broadcast Delivers IP-Based OB Trucks for Cloudbass Featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Cameras

Grass Valley has announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside ...

14/05/2026

NAGRAVISION and WPBSA Launch Play Snooker Digital Platform

NAGRAVISION, a Kudelski Group company, has announced a partnership with the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) to launch Play Snooker,...

14/05/2026

Belden To Acquire RUCKUS Networks for Approximately $1.85 Billion

Belden Inc. has announced a definitive agreement to acquire RUCKUS Networks from Vistance Networks for approximately $1.85 billion. The transaction has been app...

14/05/2026

NVIDIA Releases Content Localization Blueprint for AI-Assisted Dubbing and Speech Translation

NVIDIA has released the Content Localization Blueprint, a modular reference arch...

14/05/2026

Disney+ To Stream Banana Bowl Championship Live This October

Disney has announced that Disney will be the exclusive U.S. streaming home of the Banana Bowl, the Banana Ball league season championship, streaming live this ...

14/05/2026

Arkona and Manifold To Exhibit on Magna Systems Stand at BroadcastAsia 2026

Arkona technologies and technology partner manifold will demonstrate their production solutions on the Magna Systems and Engineering stand (Booth 5D1-1) at Broa...

14/05/2026

Haivision Webinar: New Broadcast Contribution Products Featuring Minor League Baseball Case Study

Haivision will host a webinar on Thursday, May 21 at 10 a.m. ET / 4 p.m. CET cov...

14/05/2026

The CW Network and ESPN Announce ACC Sublicense Agreement Through 2030-31 Season

The CW Network and ESPN have announced a sublicense broadcast agreement for The CW to televise ACC football and men's and women's college basketball gam...

14/05/2026

Detroit Pistons Ink Local Media Rights Deal With Scripps Sports

The agreement marks Scripps Sports' first NBA local rights deal...

14/05/2026

Report: Broadcasting Among Hardest-Hit Industries as AI Reshapes the Workforce

A new report from education-technology company Wiingy testing post-ChatGPT predictions against three years of real-world data has identified broadcasting as one...

14/05/2026

Madonna, Shakira, and BTS to Headline First-Ever FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show

Global Citizen and FIFA have announced that Madonna, Shakira, and BTS will headl...

14/05/2026

Sundance Institute Names 2026 Episodic Lab Fellows

LOS ANGELES, CA, May 14, 2026 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the cohort selected for the 2026 Episodic Lab program, taking place at Dunaway ...

14/05/2026

Spotify Expands Music Access for Young Listeners, Extending Managed Accounts to Free Tier

At Spotify, we're focused on making every listening experience feel intentio...

14/05/2026

Spotify Brings Nashville's Songwriting Community Together for Mental Health Summit

Spotify recently welcomed songwriters, artists, executives, and music students t...

14/05/2026

Sonuscore update Lux Orchestral Strings

New articulations, ostinatos, Motion Scoring Articulation Sets & more Sonuscore's flagship cinematic string library has just been treated to a significa...

14/05/2026

Pr Recording & Residence

World-class studio opens on T rkiye's Aegean coast P r Recording & Residence have announced their official opening, introducing a new world-class reside...

14/05/2026

Nugen Audio update DialogCheck

Now supports channel layouts up to 9.1.6 Nugen Audio have just released an update for their AI-powered dialogue intelligibility and compliance tool. Set to ...

14/05/2026

UVI release Orchestral Suite 2

New recordings & one-key chord tool UVI have just announced the release of Orchestral Suite 2, a ground-up redesign of their all-in-one symphonic orchestra ...

14/05/2026

Rob Papen launch eXplorer 11

Two new arrivals & expanded factory content Rob Papen's all-encompassing plug-in and virtual instrument collection has just been treated to another upda...

14/05/2026

FSK Audio release QRonicle

Embed QR codes into DAW sessions FSK Audio's latest plug-in doesn't process audio, but serves as an organisational tool that allows QR codes to be e...

14/05/2026

SBS Board appoints Jane Palfreyman Managing Director

SBS Board appoints Jane Palfreyman Managing Director 13 May, 2026 Media releases The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) Board of Directors is pleased to an...

14/05/2026

Transforming bold ideas into market-ready productions: Digital Originals returns

Transforming bold ideas into market-ready productions: Digital Originals returns 14 May, 2026 Media releases SBS, NITV and Screen Australia have announced ...

14/05/2026

Australia Uncovered Returns to SBS with Bold New Season Featuring John Safran on Free Speech and Powerful Stories of Justice and Survival

Australia Uncovered Returns to SBS with Bold New Season Featuring John Safran on...

14/05/2026

Rohde & Schwarz transforms spectrum complexity into situational awareness and effective countermeasures at AOC Europe 2026

Rohde & Schwarz transforms spectrum complexity into situational awareness and ef...

14/05/2026

Rohde & Schwarz and Quantum Systems join forces to redefine EW and C-UAS-enabled uncrewed operations

Rohde & Schwarz and Quantum Systems join forces to redefine EW and C-UAS-enabled...

14/05/2026

Rohde & Schwarz showcases STANAG aligned ARDRONIS Counter UAS capability at NATO Technical Interoperability Exercise 2026

Rohde & Schwarz showcases STANAG aligned ARDRONIS Counter UAS capability at NATO...

14/05/2026

Code of Silence wins Best Drama Series at the 2026 BAFTA's!

Code of Silence has won the BAFTA for Best Drama Series at Sunday night's ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall. The series, starring Rose Ayling-Ellis and w...

14/05/2026

The Wraith Shield Advantage: Transforming L3Harris Radios into AI-Enabled Counter-UAS Sensors

Soldiers equipped with Falcon IV radios will soon gain a sense-and-protect capa...

14/05/2026

Getting into the Space Nuclear Power Game with Next-Generation Technology

Artists concept of the L3Harris Next Gen RTG in flight configuration, designed to provide 250 watts of reliable power for decades-long missions in deep space....

14/05/2026

Vivid Broadcast builds remote production network around Calrec

Vivid Broadcast was embracing remote production long before it became the industry norm. Now, with Calrec's True Control 2.0-enabled Argo M and Type R conso...

14/05/2026

Nielsen data shows NZ vehicle advertisers are shifting gears as fuel pressures make EVs and hybrids an increasingly attractive option

Car ad spend rises sharply in March as more auto buyers turn to electric, hybrid...

14/05/2026

Is This the Year for Agentic AI's Breakout in Broadcast?

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

14/05/2026

CBS LA, Los Angeles Rams Ink New TV Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

14/05/2026

CueScripts CueiT 4 0 Wins Futures Best of Show Award Pres...

CueScript's CueiT 4.0 Wins Future's Best of Show Award, Presented at 2026 NAB Show by TV Tech CueScript, a leading international developer of professio...

14/05/2026

Expert-Led Education Sessions and Development of Online T...

Expert-Led Education Sessions and Development of Online Training Program Accelerate IPMX Adoption and Deployment The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) to...

14/05/2026

Klvr rechargeable battery launches in the USA to cut cost...

Klvr is launching in the United States with a professional-grade rechargeable battery solution that cuts costs and improves performance across live entertainmen...

14/05/2026

Shooting into the depths of Bedlam with URSA Cine 17K 65

Shooting into the depths of Bedlam with URSA Cine 17K 65 Brie Clayton May 14, 2026 0 Comments Indie feature film paired digital 65mm capture with a Bl...

14/05/2026

WeMakeColor expands with Baselight, becoming hybrid color facility

WeMakeColor expands with Baselight, becoming hybrid color facility Caroline Shawley May 14, 2026 0 Comments Boutique Mexican-based studio integrates B...

14/05/2026

Berklee's Summer in the City Returns with Free Concerts Throughout Boston Area

Berklee's Summer in the City Returns with Free Concerts Throughout Boston Ar...

14/05/2026

Chelsey Green Named to Billboard's 2026 Women in Music List

Chelsey Green Named to Billboard's 2026 Women in Music List The Berklee professor and chair of the Recording Academy Board of Trustees joins other high-pr...