In 2024, the Mill Valley Music Festival became the first-ever U.S. festival to operate entirely on mobile zero-emission batteries, thanks to a groundbreaking partnership with Moxion Power, a Bay Area-based leader in mobile battery energy storage system technology. “We were thrilled to be the exclusive energy source for MVMF last year,” said Paul Heulskamp, CEO and Co-founder of Moxion. “Moxion was born right here in Mill Valley, so it’s incredible to see the festival become a sustainability leader. We hope this inspires more eco-friendly practices across the board.”
Organized by the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce and Noise Pop Industries, this two-day outdoor arts and culture extravaganza located just north of San Francisco ditched all traditional diesel generators, without a glitch. Moxion’s innovative MP-75/600 mobile BESS – recognized as a TIME Best Invention of 2023 – was virtually silent and powered everything from sound stages and VIP lounges to food trucks and vendor areas. By using Moxion’s batteries instead of diesel generators this year, MVMF avoided approximately 4.5 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
“To think that this journey towards an emissions-free festival started when Paul and I grabbed a coffee at the Depot Cafe a few years back,” says Jim Welte, executive director of the Mill Valley Chamber, noting that it came in the aftermath of learning all too well that fire season is no longer, well, a season – it’s an ongoing state of affairs. The Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) amidst a high fire threat have provided a new dynamic to navigate, and PG&E has sought to provide more resources to help communities before, during & after shutoffs. Vital local businesses have invested in generators to provide a safety net in times of need.
This wasn’t Moxion’s first act at MVMF. Last year, they successfully powered a portion of the festival. They expanded their footprint, proving that sustainability and innovation can transform the environmental impact of live events. Throughout the weekend, Moxion will monitor power usage through the Moxion app to seamlessly swap out any of the mobile batteries with fully-charged replacements, without interrupting the power supply.
“This crucial leap forward for the Mill Valley Music Festival came at a critical moment in our community, as City of Mill Valley leaders, the Mill Valley Chamber, local businesses and a multitude of organizations took an all-hands-on-deck approach to reduce the burdens of climate change,” said Mill Valley City Manager Todd Cusimano. “Our City has identified reducing greenhouse gas emissions as a major reduction strategy, along with renewable energy, energy efficiency, EV infrastructure, green building and waste reduction.”
But alas, on July 26, 2024, the portable battery company Moxion Power announced it would be closing its doors, effective immediately. After furloughing most of its 400 employees a week earlier, CEO Paul Huelskamp emailed them with the news. “I’m writing to you this morning with a heavy heart,” he wrote in an email seen by SFGate. “We have not found a path that will allow us to continue operations as Moxion Power.”
In the aftermath of it all, the Mill Valley Chamber reached out to Dan Martin, another brilliant mind around battery-powered solutions, who helped the organization find a new through line on how to “get the band back together,” so to speak, on re-constituting a group of bright bulbs to have another emissions-free Mill Valley Music Festival.
Martin, whose Amped Solutions leverages experts in the design, construction, financing, and operation of commercial and industrial solar and energy storage projects. They own energy storage systems themselves and are quite familiar with the changing regulatory, tax, operations, maintenance, and monitoring challenges of this asset class. Working with world-class engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firms, they can design, install, and maintain a photovoltaic and/or energy storage solution for your facilities to achieve maximum energy savings across your entire commercial real estate portfolio.
As the team reached out to some amazing minds within the battery power business, they connected with the ever-growing Sunbelt Rentals unit in Richmond, California.