Keeping the music pumping at Splendour in the Grass
- Details
- 19 August 2016

Now in its 16th year, three-day music festival Splendour in the Grass continues to achieve record crowds with daily attendance at this year’s festival in July at North Byron Parklands estimated at approximately 30,000. As crowd numbers have grown, so has the festival’s impressive line-up and Splendour in the Grass is now acknowledged as the nation’s biggest and best winter music festival.
Powering the nation’s biggest music festival
Over the course of the three days, the festival site, 30kms outside Byron Bay effectively becomes a township in its own right with over 17,500 people camping at the festival for the full three days. Like any other town, it needs to provide reliable services:
- Power – for all the sound and lighting equipment used by hundreds of musicians
- Water – not just for drinking, but for the toilets, showers and food preparation
- Waste Management – waste needs to be collected, compacted, transported and treated
Powering all these services are the biggest banks of generators you’ll find anywhere and fueling the generators is the on-site refuelling team from Bulk Fuel Australia, the on site refuelling specialists.
Manoeuvring around a site with 30,000 people
To access the generators, the BFA team and their tankers had to negotiate their way around the 660 acre site, populated with 30,000 people to ensure generators at the main stages – the Amphitheatre, Mix Up Tent and GW McLennan tent, as well as the other nine performance areas – had the fuel they needed. That was just the music.
While keeping the music pumping was essential, it was closely followed by the need to ensure the generators powering the three major food halls along with two ‘food pods’ and at least seven different licensed areas had the fuel they needed to keep the drinks cold and the food hot.
Manoeuvring a regular fuel tanker around the site simply isn’t an option. While there are areas at North Byron Parklands where fuel can be safely stored, it’s transporting that fuel to where it’s needed that requires specialist vehicles – which is where our tough, purpose-built, on-site refuelling DAF fleet of dedicated fuel tankers come in.
These vehicles have been designed to access off-road areas and tight spaces making them ideal for getting around to every performance space at the Splendour in the Grass festival.
Safety First
Three days of music, alcohol and 30,000 people is a great recipe for disaster – add combustible fuels to the mix and it’s easy to see why safety is the absolute chief concern of the festival organisers.
All Bulk Fuel Australia drivers are fully trained and compliant with best-practice safety management and our trucks exceed all required Petroleum Industry safety compliance.
Bulk Fuel Australia complies with all of the requirements for the storage and handling of fuel in accordance with Australian Standards. Our operators also receive regular fire protection, safety and emergency management training.
It’s not just Australia’s leading event organisers that trust us with their on-site refuelling and fuel storage needs. Bulk Fuel Australia supplies the mining, construction and agricultural industries with diesel and petrol bulk fuel solutions. Contact us today for a quote.