All sound, lighting, video and stage production on the main stage at this year's Lollapalooza will be powered entirely by a hybrid battery system, the festival announced Monday (July 29).
According to organizers, this makes Lollapalooza the first major US music festival to have a main stage powered entirely by a hybrid battery system. Typically, diesel generators power the stages at large-scale events.
Lollapalooza's hybrid stage will deploy over 1.5 MWh of battery storage capacity. Says a representative of the festival Advertising sign that the batteries are reusable and will be charged using diesel generators running on biodiesel fuel (typically made from renewable sources such as vegetable oil, animal fat or recycled cooking fat and used as a cleaner burning alternative to petroleum-based diesel fuel) . This is similar to systems that power hybrid vehicles.
The batteries, manufactured by Swedish industrial tools and equipment company Atlas Copco, will be deployed by CES Power, which provides temporary power generation, power distribution and HVAC for festivals, films and shows, large events and industrial projects. The system is being developed through a partnership between Live Nation's Green Nation sustainability initiative, T-Mobile and CES Power.
“We have set out to build a more sustainable future for music festivals, which requires bold steps to find solutions that can reinvent the way we operate and in turn, build the industry's trust in new technology, so so that large live events can see a path towards becoming more energy efficient,” Jake Perrydirector of operations and sustainability for C3 Presents, which produces Lollapalooza, said in a statement.
“Solutions like those pioneered by Lollapalooza not only contribute to our global Green Nation goal of halving our emissions by 2030, but also provide local benefits through reduced noise and air pollution that create a better overall experience for the artists, fans and crew,” he added Lucy August-Perna, head of global sustainability at Live Nation. “We look forward to sharing the results and lessons learned from Lollapalooza with our network of more than 200 festivals around the world, who are committed to raising the bar for more sustainable live events.”
Major events have historically been wary of incorporating hybrid battery power due to concerns about its reliability, but such batteries are becoming more popular on the live stage as technology advances. Last May, California's Mill Valley Music Festival became the first US festival to be powered by 100% renewable energy through the use of batteries.
This isn't the first time Lollapalooza has experimented with green energy on its main stage. Last August, Billie Eilish's headlining set at the festival was partially powered by a solar battery system through an initiative with environmental non-profit Reverb.
Lollapalooza 2024 headliners include Meghan Thee Stallion, Hozier, SZA, Stray Kids, The Killers, Future and Metro Boomin, Blink 182, Melanie Martinez and Skrillex.
