While IBC 2026’s AI and virtual production demos grab the headlines, a quieter revolution is happening on set floors across the industry: the diesel generator is being replaced by battery systems the size of large suitcases.
The sound of silence on set
Walk onto almost any set five years ago and you’d have heard it before you saw it: a diesel generator, grumbling away in a car park, keeping the lights, monitors, and tea urn running. Walk onto a set today, and increasingly, that noise is gone.
In its place sits something roughly the size of a large suitcase, doing the same job with none of the fumes, none of the fuss, and a fraction of the fuel bill.
This quiet swap is one of the more interesting sustainability stories in the broadcast industry right now, and one of the least talked about. While IBC’s conversations this year rightly centre on AI and new commercial models, there’s a much less glamorous shift happening in how content gets made on the ground. It’s moving faster than most productions realise.
Batteries in the 2.5kW to 10kW range
Batteries in the 2.5kW to 10kW range have gone from novelty to standard kit remarkably quickly. They now routinely power lighting rigs, video village, and marquees without a generator ever being switched on.
What’s changed isn’t just the tech, though lithium costs and energy density have both improved a great deal. It’s the mindset. Crews that once treated batteries as a spare tyre — useful in an emergency — are now asking for them from day one, the same way they’d specify a lens kit.
The case isn’t purely environmental. It’s also practical and financial, and it’s the combination of all three that’s making 2026 the year of the small battery.
Environmental impact: Cleaning up set power
Regarding carbon, the logic is simple: a battery charged from clean grid power or a hybrid source removes the direct emissions of a generator entirely. On the practical side, batteries are just easier to live with. No fuel deliveries, no bunding, no generator operator on standby, and nobody shouting over the noise to be heard.
Crew can wheel or carry one into position in the time it takes to find a decent coffee on set. For location work in urban environments, near historic buildings, or in protected areas of nature, silent running can be the difference between keeping a location and losing it.
Cost savings that matter
And then there’s cost. With fuel prices remaining high, a battery charged overnight from the grid compares very favourably over a production’s lifecycle, especially once you factor in smaller generator hire and less fuel logistics.
Sustainability and the finance department finally agreeing on something? It happens.
BAFTA Albert’s SPARK roadmap
This shift on set is being backed by a genuinely useful piece of industry coordination. BAFTA Albert’s SPARK: Clean Temporary Power by 2030 sets out a shared roadmap for the UK screen industry to move away from diesel generators altogether, transitioning via hybrid setups and HVO before phasing out standalone fossil-fuelled power completely.
It’s been signed by broadcasters and streamers including the BBC, Netflix, ITV, and Sky, and validated by independent experts at Imperial College London. Given that UK productions burned through more than three million litres of diesel in generators in 2024 alone, with over half relying almost entirely on fossil fuels, SPARK gives productions a common target.
Initiatives like this matter because they turn individual good intentions into an industry-wide expectation.
Hybridisation at scale
The next step is applying this thinking to the bigger power demands of full production units. Larger battery systems, paired with clean grid connections where available or HVO-fuelled generators where they’re not, are starting to replace generators running flat out for an entire shoot.
Instead, the generator tops up the battery periodically rather than working continuously, cutting fuel use and emissions well before HVO is even factored in.
This hybrid approach earns its keep by being realistic. Few major productions can go fully off-grid tomorrow, particularly on location. But batteries doing the heavy lifting, with clean power filling the gaps, offers a credible path that doesn’t ask anyone to sacrifice reliability for good intentions.
New battery products on show
Several manufacturers showcased battery innovations at IBC 2026:
Fxlion released two high-power waterproof batteries: the 26V 489Wh BP-7S500 and the 14.4V 559Wh BP-HP600, both IP54-rated for outdoor LED lights, cameras, and other equipment. The V-mount Li-ion batteries are shockproof and feature protection circuits against short circuits, overcharging, and over-discharging.
Hawk-Woods introduced the Mini G-Lok (Gold Mount) battery system, with 14.4V and 26V versions of both 98Wh and 150Wh batteries, plus dual voltage chargers that can handle both at once. The system enables hot-swapping to keep camera equipment running without stopping.
Boland announced the 4K55HDR7SNB 55in 4K HDR monitor and the 4K16HDR5 15.6in 4K HDR reference monitor, designed for colour-critical monitoring environments like DIT carts or mobile flypacks.
The diesel generator’s days on set are numbered. What began as a handful of eco-minded productions trialling battery power is fast becoming standard operating procedure, at least at the smaller end. The technology is here. The economics stack up. What’s left is the collective will to make it ordinary.
I am Luca Berton, AI and Cloud Advisor. I work at the intersection of cloud security, platform engineering, and enterprise AI deployments. Book a consultation.