Hybrid battery system to power Lollapalooza main stage as more festivals embrace clean energy

Chicago Tribune

31-07-2025

For the second year in a row, Lollapalooza will power its largest stage with a hybrid battery system, marking a growing trend of big-name music festivals transitioning away from diesel-based generators.
When the Chicago staple introduced its hybrid battery-powered stage in 2024, it became the first major U.S. festival to power its main stage with a battery system, which supplements the stage's generators with energy stored from the electric grid. This system reduced the stage's fuel consumption by 67%, and avoided 26 metric tons of carbon emissions, according to data from festival organizers.
This year's system will provide 1.5 megawatt hours of storage, the same capacity as last year. The system will power the T-Mobile stage, which is set to host headlining artists Tyler, The Creator, Olivia Rodrigo, Rüfüs Du Sol and Sabrina Carpenter.
'Lollapalooza last year was a great example of one of the largest festivals in the United States trusting completely in a system to run one of the biggest stages out there,' said Jake Perry, director of operations and sustainability for C3 Presents, the festival production company that runs Lollapalooza. 'It was a real proving ground to show that there's reliability in the system.'
Festival stages typically use diesel generators to power lighting, sound and video equipment, since venues like Grant Park often lack easy access to electric grids. But diesel generators emit two times more emissions than an electrical grid for the same amount of power, according to the engineering firm Facilities Engineering Associates.
Hybrid battery systems like the one used at Lollapalooza can store energy from the electrical grid and release it to power performances. When the battery systems run low, the generators can power back on as the battery recharges, cutting down on the amount of diesel fuel used at the festival.
'In a year without this type of system, (the generators) would be running 24 hours a day for somewhere around seven to eight days,' Perry said. 'Now, they run a few hours here and a few hours there throughout the course of a 24-hour period.'
Lollapalooza's battery-powered operations have become part of a larger trend in festivals across the United States. Battery systems have been used to power smaller stages for several years, but as battery size and complexity has expanded, some larger festivals have started to take the leap and switch to this new technology.
'We've been (using battery systems) for, you know, probably 15 years, where it was for a side stage, an acoustic stage, or kids stage at a festival,' said Adam Garder, co-founder of entertainment industry nonprofit REVERB. 'But we knew from just being in it that battery technology was getting to a place where it could actually handle the main stage.'
Lollapalooza partnered with REVERB and Live Nation sustainability branch Green Nation to install and operate the battery systems. In 2023, REVERB launched its Music Decarbonization Project, which works to bring batteries to festivals. The first festival it worked on was Willie Nelson's 2023 Luck Reunion festival in Texas, which became the first U.S. festival to run its main stage entirely on solar-powered batteries. The group also helped run Billie Eilish's Lollapalooza main stage set that same year, powered by a solar array.
In May 2024, the California-based Mill Valley Music Festival became the first U.S. festival to power its performances on 100% battery power. REVERB also partnered with two Austin, Texas-based music festivals — SXSW and Austin City Limits — as well as Tyler, The Creator's Camp Flog Gnaw festival, powering each festival's largest stages with similar battery systems.
During Lollapalooza last year, Perry said organizers monitored the hybrid system closely since it was their first time using it at such a large scale. Now that they've 'built confidence' in this system, he said they're excited to let it 'completely run itself' at this year's festival. Officials are also planning to analyze how much energy the battery actually needs to power the stage, which could make the system more efficient and reduce its fuel usage.
'We're finding that people are estimating their power needs to be far beyond what they actually are,' Garder said. 'These batteries can measure the power usage to the millisecond, so we can see exactly what's needed. And so as we do festivals each year, we're learning to rightsize the battery power to what's actually needed.'