As music festivals around the world increasingly focus on meaningful sustainability initiatives, Northern California's Mill Valley Music Festival is raising the bar by getting 100% of its electricity from renewable sources.
The initiative will make the Mill Valley, Calif., event, which takes place this weekend (May 11-12), the first festival in the U.S. to be powered entirely by renewable energy, the company announced. Its energy source is a Moxion MP-75 battery. This is a battery-powered generator that uses no fuel, produces no emissions, and is almost completely silent. (Last year, these his Moxion batteries were named Time magazine's Best Inventions of 2023.)
The festival, which is expected to draw between 6,000 and 12,000 attendees per day, will use seven Moxion batteries to power the stage, VIP areas, vendors and everything else. Three more batteries will be installed on site as backup. A Moxion representative told Billboard that these batteries will be used as a proof of concept that Moxion can share with other live event organizers to help transition festivals from traditionally used diesel generators to clean power sources. He said it was donated to the festival to provide.
Investors in Bay Area-based Moxyon Power include Amazon and equipment rental company Sunbelt, and the company's batteries have been sold at Reverb's Rack Reunion near Austin and in Napa Valley. It has been used to power parts of festivals such as Bottle Rock, Southern California Events, Power Trip, Camp Frognow, and The Long. Beach Tamale Fest, CaliVibes, Coachella. Future implementations are planned at Los Angeles festivals Cruel World and Just Like Heaven through Overdrive Energy Solutions, a Southern California-based company that provides green energy options for large gatherings.
While many festivals are experimenting with the use of clean electricity such as batteries and solar, some event organizers are choosing not to rely entirely on battery-powered generators due to reliability and cost concerns. I am reluctant to do so. According to a company representative, Moxion does not publish retail prices because the cost of the battery varies depending on the incentives available at the time of purchase, but when considering rental and fuel prices, the cost of the battery is traditionally The cost is said to be comparable to that of the diesel generators currently in use.
Nick Adler, vice president of festivals at Goldenvoice, which produces events such as PowerTrip, CaliVibes, Camp FlogGnaw, Cruel World, and Just Like Heaven, told Billboard in March that the cost of green initiatives was “impacting revenue.” “The moment it started to affect me,” he said. [of festivals] In a good way, all of this will be promoted across the board. ”
The Mill Valley Music Festival, sponsored by the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce and Noise Pop Industries, is in its third year and will feature the Fleet Foxes, Margo Price, and St. Paul & the Broken Bones this weekend. Artists such as
The festival plans to use Moxion batteries to avoid intense power generation.
9,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. (For comparison, 9,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions is roughly equivalent to an average gasoline-powered passenger car driving his 10,000 miles.)
“We're excited to be the exclusive energy source for this year's Mill Valley Music Festival,” said Paul Huelskamp, CEO and co-founder of Moxion. “Moxy was born right here in Mill Valley, so it’s incredible to see this festival become a leader in sustainability. We hope this will encourage more eco-friendly practices across the board.”