Bonnaroo Crowd-Funds 50 KW Solar System From Festival Ticket Fees

There are different ways to crowd-source the funding of a solar or clean energy project.

Eric Wesoff January 16, 2013

Eric Wesoff

Editor-at-Large
Greentech Media

Eric Wesoff is Editor-at-Large at Greentech Media. Prior to joining GTM, Eric Wesoff founded Sage Marketing Partners in 2000 to provide sales and marketing-consulting services to venture-capital firms and their portfolio companies in the alternative energy and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Wesoff has become a well-known, respected authority and speaker in these fields.

His expertise covers solar power, fuel cells, biofuels and advanced batteries. His strengths are in market research and analysis, business development and due diligence for investors. He frequently consults for energy startups and Silicon Valley's premier venture capitalists.

There are different ways to crowd-source the funding of a solar or clean energy project.

There are emerging peer-to-peer lending platforms like Solar Mosaic which connect investors to solar projects. Unlike Kickstarter, Solar Mosaic seeks to provide a return to its investors.

Perhaps more simply, there's what the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee did. The festival's 50-kilowatt solar project was fully funded by any “opt-in” one-dollar contribution that fans chose to make when purchasing tickets to the music festival. Previous opt-ins have funded a compost pad and garden at the show.

We spoke with Laura Sohn, the Sustainability Coordinator at the festival. The 50-kilowatt array is permanent at the Manchester, Tennessee site and is grid-connected to The Duck River Electric utility co-op. The system uses panels from SolarWorld and has been producing power since Dec. 20. Although not disclosing costs, Sohn said the system will pay for itself in about five years and provides up to 61,000 kilowatt-hours or 20 percent of the annual electricity usage of the site.

Vermont-based renewable project development firm Encore Redevelopment managed the project. Knoxville, Tenn.-based solar provider Sustainable Future installed the 196 SolarWorld panels on the roof of a metal structure in the festival’s back stage area.

Bonnaroo's 2012 lineup attracted 80,000 people to the four-day festival which included sets by Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phish, Skrillex, Bad Brains, and Kendrick Lamar.