The electronic festival recently made history by deploying a zero-emission battery system from Showpower at its US edition last month. Ultra Music Festival’s sustainability director has hailed battery-powered systems as “the future of live events” after successfully deploying a zero-emission power unit for a main stage.
Last month, the major electronic event made history as the first of its kind in the US to power a stage with a zero-emission battery system. Organisers utilised a SmartGrid battery system from Showpower, the sustainability pioneers who helped power Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour, to energise its RESISTANCE Cove stage, the smaller of its main stages.
“The motivation has been there for years,” director of sustainability Vivian Belzaguy tells IQ. “We’ve been working with Showpower since 2019 to really assess and understand our power and infrastructure needs, whether that’s permanent infrastructure, like the city utility grid, or if that’s temporary infrastructure, like generators.”
“Showpower has been really showing us the data and proof that, more often than not, events are significantly overpowered, and that batteries or grid connections can be more reliable,” she says.