BMW PGA Championship to be the first sports TV production powered entirely by green hydrogen | Golf News

The GeoPura hydrogen-powered generators work by utilising green hydrogen, produced through renewable energy sources, to generate emission free electricity which is being used to power the broadcast compound; watch the BMW PGA Championship live from Thursday on Sky Sports Golf

History will be made on the DP World Tour this week as the BMW PGA Championship becomes the first sporting event to have its TV production entirely powered by green hydrogen.

European Tour Productions and IMG are working with UK-based clean energy company GeoPura to supply two hydrogen-powered generators (HPUs) that will be positioned on the sixth fairway at the Wentworth Club.

It is estimated that relying on HPUs will save a total of 16.4 Tonnes of CO2 compared to the 2022 tournament. They are used in place of high polluting diesel generators and leave water as the only by-product, meaning they produce zero emissions.

In a world first for a sporting event, the European Tour Productions and IMG led production will be powered 100 per cent by green hydrogen, producing zero emissions

The GeoPura HPU works by utilising green hydrogen, produced through renewable energy sources, to generate emission free electricity which is being used to power the broadcast compound.

The golf buggies used at the Rolex Series event, live from Thursday on Sky Sports, to transfer people and equipment across the site will also be recharged using electricity generated via hydrogen for the first time.

These innovative developments form another part of the DP World Tour’s Green Drive initiative, which has seen the Tour become the first professional golf tour to commit to being fully net zero carbon by 2040.

Richard Bunn, Managing Director of European Tour Productions, said: “We are always on the look out for new technologies that will us get to net zero carbon by 2040. Hydrogen is the future of power distribution and has the added benefit of being more resilient than diesel units because they have fewer moving parts.

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Europe’s Ryder Cup stars are all in action at the BMW PGA Championship, the flagship event of the DP World Tour calendar, with extended coverage live on Sky Sports Golf

“Taking this leap, a first for our industry, at such a high-profile Rolex Series tournament is a big statement. This is just the start, and the plan is to roll-out hydrogen power across multiple tournaments in 2024.”

In conjunction with IMG, European Tour Productions produces the live coverage for DP World Tour events around the world, working alongside Sky Sports in the UK and NBC Golf Channel as producer of the US coverage.

Other sustainability-focused broadcast innovations include trialling remote productions for the first time this season. So far, five tournaments on the 2023 DP World Tour schedule have been produced remotely from the European Tour Productions HQ at IMG Studios in Stockley Park and each saved approximately 87 tonnes of CO2.

Watch the BMW PGA Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday with Featured Groups from 8.30am ahead of full coverage from midday on Sky Sports Golf.

Live coverage from the opening day of the Ryder Cup begins on Friday September 29 from 6am on Sky Sports Golf. Stream the PGA Tour, DP Tour, Ryder Cup and more with NOW.