Powering a music festival in Nevada’s Black Rock City Desert

The annual arts and music festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, has relied on diesel generators—until 2023, when Viridi’s energy storage system stepped in. Designed for the festival’s unique, demanding environment, Viridi’s technology cut carbon emissions, fuel use, costs, and noisy, odorous generator operations. Following this success, 67 units were deployed in 2024.

Challenge

In the desert, where reliable cell service is not available, real-time monitoring of systems is crucial to ensure optimal operating conditions. With its remote geography, rugged environment, limited LTE coverage, and extreme heat, Burning Man is a challenging environment to provide resilient electricity.

The Solution

Viridi’s team used high-efficiency diesel generators, running for short periods of time, to charge 67 RPS150 portable energy storage units, each discharging up to 30kW of power and storing 150kWh of energy. We developed a custom Wi-Fi network with satellite link backhaul, leveraging our proprietary VCom telematics systems for remote monitoring and configuration to optimize each individual microgrid setup.

Results & Benefits

Using energy storage, we reduced the event’s fuel consumption by 40% resulting in a cost savings of $65,000. Additionally, we were able to eliminate 147 tons of carbon emissions, contributing to a more sustainable event. This was the first time portable energy units were scaled in an effort to reduce the event’s reliance on fossil fuels. With Viridi’s energy storage technology, great strides were made toward event zero-carbon goals.