festivals

A sustainability initiative focused on festival-wide power use at San Francisco’s Portola in September resulted in the avoidance of using roughly 6,053 gallons of diesel fuel, a rep for the festival tells Billboard. This number is equivalent to taking 3,873 cars off the road for one day, according to AEG.  
This was the first year the initiative was implemented at Portola, which hosted its third annual event at San Francisco’s Pier 80 Sept. 28-29. The project was a joint effort by the festival’s producers, AEG and Goldenvoice, along with battery system designer Overdrive Energy Solutions, the Music Decarbonization Project from music industry sustainability advocacy group REVERB and AEG’s longtime energy partner, CES Power.

At Portola, a team made up of reps from each company implemented a cutting-edge hybrid energy system that used solar and grid power in conjunction with advanced battery technology and Tier 4 generators, which are built with emission control measures, to provide power.

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Overdrive deployed 37 battery power-stations across the festival grounds, powering a significant portion of the festival. This project marks a major expansion of Overdrive’s work with AEG/Goldenvoice, with the companies first working together at Coachella 2023 on smaller-scale energy needs.

“It feels like we’ve taken a giant leap forward this year,” Goldenvoice’s vp of festival production Dre Hanna says. “We’ve been doing small bits and pieces for two years, but this year — and the progress I feel like we’re making specifically on this show and proving to our vendors, artists and departments that we can do this and that the show is better for it — I think that [the use of these systems] is going to pick up [across our events] pretty quickly.”

The battery system entirely powered Portola’s Ship Stage for both days of the festival. While many batteries used at festivals must be charged by diesel generators throughout the day, at Portola, use of the Tier 4 generator made it possible to charge batteries for two-and-half hours each day after the festival ended.

This charging required 260 gallons of diesel fuel, which is 2,730 gallons (or 91%) less than that used by standard festival battery systems. Goldenvoice purchased 100% renewable diesel for the generators, with the system ultimately reducing CO₂ emissions at the Ship Stage by 21.1 metric tons, compared to the emissions there would have been if the stage had employed standard generator. CES, meanwhile, provided other more traditional power sources for the event.

The difference wasn’t just in fewer emissions, but the elimination of the diesel fumes that typically emanate from generators. And because these batteries make no sound, they also eliminated the typical backstage noise pollution caused by a generator.

“It is 100% better,” Hanna told Billboard backstage at Portola. “It’s so quiet back here, and our team doesn’t have to fuel a generator each morning.”

According to Overdrive Energy Solutions founder Neel Vasavada, the company’s batteries have 99% fewer emissions than the standard diesel generators that have long been used to power festivals. They also use 90-95% less diesel fuel.

Overall, the project at Portola resulted in the avoidance of 48.8 metric tons of CO₂ emissions, a number equivalent to the amount of carbon annually sequestered by 58 acres of U.S. forest. 

As battery technology advances — with the electric vehicle industry helping drive this evolution — batteries are an increasingly popular solution for sustainably powering large-scale music events. In August, Lollapalooza became the first festival in the U.S. to power its mainstage entirely by battery, reporting a 67% reduction in both fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions over prior years, when batteries had not been used.

While Hanna says Lollapalooza’s accomplishment helped increase industry-wide confidence that batteries are reliable enough to use even at the biggest stages, Vasavada notes that the system implemented at Portola was “very different” from those used to power Lollapalooza and other events.  

“[This equipment] is not made for rock and roll music events,” he says. “These batteries were built for industry and for disaster relief, but it’s never been optimized for temporary portable power or for situations where you don’t have a grid. That’s what Overdrive has done.”  

Overdrive Energy Solutions’ previous festival work includes implementing batteries at two years of Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion near Austin, Tex., along with events including West Virginia’s Healing Appalachia and Maryland’s All Things Go.

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Hanna reports that Goldenvoice’s use of battery power is expanding. The company’s Harvest Moon, which happened Oct. 5 in Lake Hughes, Calif., was powered entirely by batteries and solar-fed grid power. Goldenvoice’s Camp Flog Gnaw – which happened at L.A.’s Dodger Stadium in November – used a hybridized battery and generator system at two of its three stages, also employing a combination of grid power, batteries and solar to power entire sections of the festival. (That initiative was once again a joint project from AEG/Goldenvoice, CES Power, Overdrive Energy Solutions and REVERB’s Music Decarbonization Project). Hanna calls it “Goldenvoice’s cleanest energy festival to date.” 

As battery technology advances and becomes more widely available, the cost of deploying these systems remains a key prohibitor to their widespread adoption. (Energy prices vary between shows based on factors including vendors, owned vs. rented equipment, trucking rates, available grid power and more.)

But Hanna says that generally, improved power planning internally, combined with creativity and collaboration with power vendors, “is already leading to more competitive pricing on battery systems. The data we’re gathering from each show is helping us find efficiencies that prove hybridizing power can be as cost effective as generators and the fuel they consume.” 

And given that battery systems provide event producers with precise data about how much power they actually consume and truly require, Hanna says that ultimately “we’re going to be able to be more efficient and cost effective, because at the end of the day we can’t spend more.” REVERB, a 501c3 nonprofit that’s focused on sustainability in the music industry for 20 years, made the 2024 Portola power system possible by subsidizing a portion of its cost. The organization estimates that each year, U.S. festivals burn the equivalent of 46 million miles driven by gasoline powered vehicles.

As far as when these clean energy systems will entirely replace carbon-emitting generators at festivals, Hanna believes that moment is on the horizon. “it’s not next year. But is it in five years? Maybe. We are heading in that direction as quickly and as efficiently as we can.”