Community Microgrids

Battery on the Beat: 1.3-MWh Energy Storage Powers Vermont Outdoor Concert Venue

July 12, 2024

The Ben and Jerry’s Outdoor Concert Series at the Shelburne Museum in Waterbury is hitting the upbeat on decarbonization, with a grid-charged NOMAD energy storage asset supplying energy needed to rock the house

Rod Walton, Managing Editor

At a concert stage in Vermont, the new lineup of instruments consists of guitar, bass, drums and battery storage.

The Ben and Jerry’s Concerts on the Green's outdoor series at the Shelburne Museum in Waterbury is hitting the upbeat on decarbonization, with a grid-charged energy storage asset supplying energy needed to rock the house on a newly regular basis. During downtime the battery is charged by the Green Mountain Power grid, which is completely carbon-free with a portfolio including hydropower, nuclear and renewables.

In the past few weeks, the battery storage has been the on-site power resource for concerts featuring acts such as Guster and Jason Mraz. REVERB, a environmental non-profit which was co-founded by Guster band member Adam Gardner, connected the Shelburne Museum stage with 1.3-MWh Voyager battery storage system from NOMAD Transportable Power Systems.

“In a conversation with Adam last summer, he mentioned that REVERB was successfully using battery technology to power major concert stages,” Alex Crothers, founder of concert series promotor Higher Ground Presents, said in a statement. “After some research, I learned that NOMAD could offer a solution to cut diesel emissions from our concerts. When we heard it was developed and built here in the United States—in Vermont—we had to talk.”

REVERB’s Music Decarbonization Project has been working nationwide with partners to clean up the on-site power profile of outdoor and remote concert venues, Guster’s Gardner said. The startup of the NOMAD system helps harmonize the group’s goals in a real way.

“This is the first time I actually got to play a decarbonized stage and I have to say it was great,” Gardner added. “The system worked flawlessly, there were no diesel fumes, no loud generator noise and zero emissions. That’s a win for me as an artist.”

The Ben and Jerry’s Concerts on the Green at Shelburne Museum series is in its 22^nd season. The outdoor stage has played host to numerous prominent artists over the year and will feature a sellout show with band Train on July 30.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Energy selected NOMAD Transportable Power Systems to bring long-duration energy storage to five communities in rural Vermont in partership with utility Green Mountain Power. The $9.5 million DOE grant helped the company deliver mobile battery storage in the remote areas.

Working with NOMAD on the project included lithium-ion battery cell manufacturer KORE Power and also the non-profit Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

About the Author

Rod Walton, Managing Editor | Managing Editor

For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.

I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.

Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.