June 27, 2024
POWR2’s Lollapalooza solar array
POWR2, Bethel, Conn., a provider of mobile battery energy storage solutions, utilized its battery energy storage systems (BESS) at the 2023 Lollapalooza festival. As part of the Music Decarbonization Project, Billie Eilish and Reverb partnered to bring clean energy solutions to the main stage at Lollapalooza.
POWR2’s POWRBANKs, supplied and managed by Overdrive Energy Solutions, were charged via a temporary on-site solar array. The POWRBANKs supplied zero-emission power to Eilish’s 80-minute headline set.
The team was tasked with powering Billie Eilish’s lighting, video, audio and special effects, including the rapid elevator “toaster” that popped Eilish on stage at the start of the show.
One of the primary challenges faced in this endeavor was the absence of a standardized benchmark for providing clean power to Lollapalooza’s main stage show, the company said. POWR2 added that the lack of rehearsal time hindered the team’s ability to estimate the power requirements.
“There was a bit of a challenge, just in terms of sizing the system. Because we never got to do rehearsals with the equipment that they were bringing on stage, we didn’t really know what the loads were,” said Sean Jacobs, lead engineer, Overdrive Energy Solutions.
The event utilized 12 POWRBANK XPRO battery energy storage systems, each with an output capacity of 60kW and a storage capacity of 120 kWh.
POWR2’s Lollapalooza POWRBANKs
To address these challenges, POWR2 said its team implemented a scalable and flexible clean energy solution centered around renewable energy. They deployed twelve POWRBANK XPRO battery energy storage systems. A temporary on-site 60kW solar array consisting of 136 solar panels charged them prior to the event. The POWRBANKs were configured to supply five services: one 400-amp, three 200-amp, and one 100-amp.
“What we did from the get-go, was design everything from the solar to the POWR2 units that we use, even how we set up the wire, and everything so that we’d have as many options as we could on site to make it work the way we needed to,” said Neel Vasavada, founder, Overdrive Energy Solutions.
POWR2 said one major concern was providing enough power for the extensive lighting services needed during the show. The company used three POWRBANKs to power the lighting package. In total, the system could provide 750 kW of power and 1.4 MWh of energy storage.
The company said the results were that 6.6 percent of the total energy stored was used, 1.02 metric tonnes of potential carbon was offset and 180 gal. of potential diesel fuel saved.
The company also said that while generators required oil changes and refueling onsite, the POWRBANKs required no maintenance at the event.
The company maintains that the success showcased the feasibility of clean energy solutions in large-scale music events, providing a clear path forward for the music industry to take proactive climate action.
“As an engineer, I say that the main impediment to adoption is culture. It’s not technology,” Vasavada said.
