Replacing “Stinky Diesel Generators” with Mobile Microgrids for Concerts, Live Events, Festivals and Firefighting

In 2017, Deans began to “get into the weeds” about deploying alternative fuels. He experimented with a hybrid system consisting of two large format Stanley Power Hub battery generators and a gas generator to power the truck stop offices during Coachella.

The goal was to use the hybrid system to replace the light tower operation, which burned between 8 and 12 gallons of diesel per shift for 30 days. Before the change to the hybrid system, this operation used 20,000 gallons of diesel and attracted noise complaints from neighbors, Deans said.

Over time, Deans began adding solar to the mix of alternative options, especially for remote sites.

For example, he now uses solar to power noise and dust monitoring stations around the Coachella site.

Astronomical power demand in the entertainment industry

Tackling diesel use in the entertainment industry is an ambitious project. Worldwide, there are up to 50 festivals about the same size as Coachella, and power needs are “astronomical,” Deans said.

“These events are always going to need supplemental power. We can’t depend on the grid. Backup is usually diesel,” he said. But that’s changing, and the industry is renting batteries, solar systems and mobile microgrids to replace diesel for these off-grid needs. Deans is also looking at using micro nuclear generators to help wean the industry off fossil fuels.

Dean’s latest sustainability project is renting a portable microgrid to power his offices at Coachella. It includes 25 kW of solar and 200 kWh of battery storage and was deployed March 17, said Neel Vasavada, co-founder, Overdrive Energy Solutions, which supplies sustainable energy systems to live events and other industries and provided the system.

Demand for renewable energy is increasing in the entertainment industry.  Overdrive provided solar for a concert by popular musician Billie Eilish in Chicago– one of the largest solar projects ever deployed in U.S. concert history, Vasavada said.

The benefits of modular and portable microgrids

Overdrive now designs microgrid systems that take advantage of the technology’s ability to be modular and portable.

“Instead of taking a grid-style approach, if we lean on the modularity and flexibility of microgrids, we can hook units up to loads, and essentially determine what we need to do very quickly,” he said. “And we can get things up and running very quickly and much more efficiently than diesel.”

As Vasavada talked to people in the entertainment industry, he told them he would replace their diesel generators, and they wouldn’t experience any power interruptions. Instead of refueling diesel generators, they might be swapping batteries, and the transition away from diesel would be painless, he said.

Over the last two years, Overdrive has deployed batteries, solar and portable microgrids for major entertainers like Willie Nelson and large events by Google.

“We've managed to demonstrate that the microgrids are actually more reliable,

more sustainable, cleaner and safer,” said Vasavada. “And believe it or not, often they're cheaper, or at least similar in cost as diesel.”

Microgrids provide quieter, cleaner sleeping trailers for firefighters

Not only does the entertainment industry in Los Angeles need temporary power as quickly and sustainably as possible. Batteries, solar and mobile microgrids are needed to help during emergencies such as the recent Los Angeles fires.

In February after the fires broke out, Mario Gonzalez, captain with the Los Angeles Fire Department, was assigned to work at Will Rogers State Park, a command post and staging area for 300 to 400 people involved in fighting fires. His job was to support the firefighters working in neighborhoods and surrounding hills.

At first, the fire department used diesel and gasoline to power firefighters’ trailers, including the sleeping trailers. The fire department had small tanks for refueling the gasoline generators, which meant they had to be refueled often, which was time-consuming. The fire department asked Overdrive to bring in renewable energy for the sleeping trailers so firefighters weren’t exposed to the noise, pollution and vibrations of the diesel generators, Gonzalez said.

Overdrive provided 12 kW, 240 volt systems with 50 kWh of battery storage and 12 kW of solar, Vasavada said. Over a few days, the move saved more than 265 gallons of fossil fuel, he said.

“As a fire department, we're definitely looking into using more renewable energy,” Gonzalez said.

Information spreads about replacing diesel with renewable energy

Through word of mouth, information spread about the pluses of using renewable energy, and Gonzalez recently fielded a request from city officials who manage fire and police stations.  They needed offgrid power for a remote mountain top site that contains communications equipment for relaying messages throughout the city about fire incidents and other issues.

As a result of the fires, the area still didn’t have power, and a diesel generator had been running 24-7, he said. Gonzales asked Overdrive to respond to the request.

Meanwhile, Vasavada is traveling around the country giving presentations about the benefits of mobile microgrids–and trying to dispel the myths about them.

“It's time to address this belief that sustainable energy and microgrid technologies are somehow more expensive or less reliable or something that's sort of new and still getting the bugs worked out. None of that is true,” Vasavada said.