By Meghan Tierney October 2, 2025
Solar energy powering the Cali Vibes Music Festival and a live performance at the Boomyard Stage. © Goldenvoice
Goldenvoice, the live entertainment subsidiary of AEG, is reshaping the sustainability landscape of large-scale music festivals. From Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach Festival to Tyler the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival and Portola Music Festival, the company is demonstrating that renewable energy practices are not just aspirational—they’re operational.
At the heart of this transformation is a partnership with the environmental nonprofit REVERB and Overdrive Energy Solutions. Together, they’ve replaced traditional diesel generators with modular battery systems powered by solar energy and the electrical grid, or with hybridized renewable diesel.
“Working with Goldenvoice has pushed us to think bigger, faster,” said Neel Vasavada, Co-Founder of Overdrive Energy Solutions. “They’ve challenged us to take proven concepts and apply them to more complex, higher-profile environments.”
In 2024, Goldenvoice partnered with REVERB’s Music Decarbonization Project, an initiative aimed at accelerating environmental sustainability across the music industry. The funding supported Goldenvoice’s ongoing transition into renewable energy at two of its regional festivals that year, Portola in San Francisco and Camp Flog Gnaw in Los Angeles.
“We’re thrilled to see AEG/Goldenvoice rapidly adopt clean energy technology and are proud to be a part of it,” said Adam Gardner, founder of REVERB. “This is exactly what our Music Decarbonization Project was created for.”
At the two-day Portola Music Festival, where an estimated 42,000 guests attended each day, the Ship Stage became the company’s first fully battery-powered stage, eliminating
the need for 6,053 gallons of diesel and avoiding 48.8 metric tons of CO₂ emissions.1
People dancing and listening to music at a stage at the Cali Vibes Music Festival. © AAlyssa Pascucci
Camp Flog Gnaw followed suit with longtime power partner, CES Power, recharging the majority of its five Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) with generators to enhance efficiency, according to data provided by Goldenvoice. Overdrive deployed over 30 BESS units providing over 5.4 megawatt hours of clean energy storage, charged primarily by grid power. The sold-out two-day festival at Dodger Stadium in City avoided over 4,261 gallons of diesel and 35.7 metric tons of CO₂ emissions. This transition marked a significant milestone in the industry’s shift toward renewable energy solutions.
Vasavada said that these methods result in up to a 99% reduction in harmful emissions and remove noisy, high-maintenance generators from sensitive areas like VIP lounges, artist compounds, and medical tents alongside stages. LED lighting is also used extensively across festival grounds in place of incandescent lights, reducing overall energy consumption.
Goldenvoice also implements a power “right-sizing” strategy, which aims at significantly reducing fuel consumption and eliminating energy waste. This data-driven approach measures real-time energy use from generators and batteries, enabling precise planning to deliver power efficiently and only where it’s needed.
These systems help streamline operations by offering greater flexibility in deployment, simplifying site design, and reducing the need for on-site fuel handling. Energy monitoring and data analytics enable continuous improvement, allowing the company to refine and scale its solutions from one event to the next without compromising the artist and fan experience.
Earlier this year Goldenvoice achieved a major feat at its Cali Vibes Music Festival in Long Beach, CA, following years of testing battery-powered stages within regional markets. For the first time in company history, they successfully scaled from powering just one or two stages with batteries, to running the festival’s main stage and second stage with hybridized battery systems, and a smaller “Boomyard” stage with 100% solar power and batteries.
Goldenvoice’s approach offers a replicable model for how live events can reduce their environmental footprint, while improving operational efficiency. As climate concerns grow and audiences increasingly expect sustainability from the brands they support, the greening of music festivals is becoming a strategic imperative. “[Goldenvoice is] willing to pilot new tech, collaborate deeply with partners, and build long-term strategies instead of settling for one-off gestures,” Vasavada said. “That mindset is rare in the live event space, and it’s what makes real change possible. It’s why we prioritize our work with them.”
About the Author
Meghan Tierney is a Senior Manager of Sustainability at AEG, a worldwide sports and live entertainment company. At AEG, she develops and executes sustainability strategies for large-scale music festivals, venues, and tours. She has led sustainability efforts for globally recognized events such as Coachella, Stagecoach, Goldenvoice Festivals, and the College Football Playoff National Championship.
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