The Power is Yours

How cutting venue energy bills secures jobs, supports artists, and strengthens the circuit

If the LIVE Trust wants to make a powerful first statement with an investment that is smart, visible, and rooted in both values and numbers, this is the one: Take venues off the grid.

The case is simple. A typical 250-capacity grassroots venue currently spends over £10,000 a year on energy. That is the cost just to power what the venue exists to do: live performance. Lighting rigs. Sound systems. Air conditioning. Monitoring. Amplification. Artist prep, admin and rehearsal time. In the current climate, that bill is not marginal. It is often terminal.

A model developed by Music Venue Trust, using live data from the sector, shows that the average annual consumption for a venue of this size is 26,260 kilowatt hours. That is not theoretical. It has been independently validated across the full spectrum of actual operators. It sits right in the middle of the consumption figures shared by 20 benchmark venues of comparable size and use. And the cost of that energy, if you are paying market rates, is £10,925 a year, including standing charges and VAT.

There are ways to bring that number down through efficiency, but the real opportunity is to eliminate it. With a properly specified solar and battery installation, a venue of that size can go off grid entirely. It needs a 27 kilowatt solar array and a 35 to 40 kilowatt-hour battery. Again, those numbers have been field tested and independently verified from projects elsewhere in the world.

The design already exists and the package to do it has been priced. Total cost, installed and operating, is £54,000 to £63,700 depending on location and fit, based on doing this at just one venue as a single investment and paying for all of it at market rate and with no other contributions, reductions or discounts. Scaled up, thinking about a plan to remove 200 venues in a three-year period, and tapping into national and local government support and subsidies, that cost can be reduced by 35 to 45% - £35,000 to £44,000 per venue.

The system described produces all the energy a venue needs across the year. It is built around the specific pattern of energy use that grassroots venues have; low consumption during the day, heavy draw in the evening. For Grassroots Music Venues, the vast majority of whom have access to adequate roof space for the generation of energy, battery storage is the key. During the morning and afternoon, while the venue is empty or rehearsing, the panels are generating sufficient power and charging the batteries. That power is then released back during showtime, when the real consumption happens.

The outcome is that the venue stays connected to the grid, so that it always has back up for the worst case scenario, but is no longer dependent on it. It does not matter if prices spike. It does not matter if energy suppliers pull rates. It does not matter if tariffs change. The venue is self-powered. Its costs are fixed and its future is no longer decided by the behaviour of companies who have no interest in live music at all.

The financial impact is immediate. The system saves the venue around £9500 a year in avoided energy costs. In less than six years, the initial investment has paid for itself. In fifteen years, it has returned over £140,000. By the end of its life, it will have put over £225,000 back into the operating budget of the venue.

That is not just money saved. It is money freed up to pay artists more fairly, to reduce hire fees for promoters, to support risk-taking in programming, and to employ more staff on more secure contracts. And here’s the amazing news which sometimes gets missed in discussing these opportunities; the basic economic model of a Grassroots Music Venue, which has rapidly moved towards not-for-profit entities as the standard organisational infrastructure by which music programming in these venues is delivered, bakes those outcomes into this type of investment. A not-for-profit run venue with lower fixed costs is a venue that simply can, will, and, by its very nature, must, do more, offer more and pay more.

The Solar Power opportunity is a direct investment into the people who make the grassroots ecosystem function. Of all the possible uses of LIVE Trust funds, this is the type of investment that guarantees a return for everyone - not just venue operators, but artists, staff and promoters too. It strengthens the infrastructure that underpins everything else and permanently reduces costs for the grassroots sector.

This principle, of reducing the burden of costs on everyone working in the sector, or improving working and performing conditions for everyone, is where LIVE Trust investment needs to start and where it makes the most long term and sustainable difference. Buy the buildings and get rid of the landlords - result? More money for the programme. Build artist accommodation in the venues and get rid of the hotel chains? More money for artists. It should be an overriding principle, and a test of all investments, to seek out the opportunities in every part of the infrastructure which mean that touring becomes permanently more affordable for everyone, not just those lucky enough to get a short term grant. This isn’t difficult to understand: If you give a grant to one artist to buy a great lighting rig, you have one great looking artist. If you give a grant to a venue to buy a great lighting rig, every artist visiting that venue can look great.

The environmental impact of this specific investment opportunity is just as clear. Just one system of the type discussed here removes 5.8 tonnes of carbon emissions each year. That is 145 tonnes of CO₂ over the 25-year life of the panels, equivalent to the lifetime output of twenty average UK households. And it is not just carbon. Taking venues off the grid removes reliance on fossil-heavy night-time energy, reduces demand on the national infrastructure, and positions the sector as a driver of transition not just a passenger.

Even beyond the obvious cost and carbon benefits, there is also a strong cultural argument. The live music industry has consistently made public commitments to the Green agenda. Audiences expect it. Artists demand it. Funders are measuring it. Delivering solar on Grassroots Music Venues is one of the most direct and visible ways to honour that commitment. It makes the ambition real. It gives the venue something physical to show and turns good intentions into daily operations.

It also sends a broad and positive message. That the sector is not waiting for someone else to lead, it is a sector where, thanks to the Grassroots Levy, direct positive action is possible. Return on investment is visible and measurable and fast.

It’s a model that can be scaled. It works for 400-cap venues and 250-cap venues, and it works for 150-cap venues and 80-cap venues. It works for larger sites too, with a slightly higher specification. But it does not need a full offset to be meaningful; a 75 percent offset system, which costs around £40,000 at full market rate, still saves the venue £6,500 a year and delivers the same core benefits. The return on investment is only slightly slower. The message is just as strong.

It is rare to find a solution that fixes immediate costs, stabilises long-term operations, delivers measurable carbon savings and proves a point about leadership and intent. Taking venues off the grid does all of that.

This is not about hypotheticals or a Fantasy Island style wish list; the data exists; the suppliers exist; the system exists. It’s already been done elsewhere in the world and we know it works. What has been missing is the funding to get the first ten sites up and running and prove the model can be scaled up right across the country.

The LIVE Trust can fix that. Quickly, visibly and permanently.