Zero Diesel at 1,200 Feet
How a full professional audio rig on the 38th floor of St. Regis Mumbai ran its entire sound system on battery — cutting energy costs by 40% and requiring no on-site staffing through the night.
40%
Cost Saving
vs. 125 KVA DG equivalent
18 hrs
Continuous Runtime
10 AM setup to 4 AM wrap
~627 kg
CO₂ Not Emitted
~234 L diesel avoided
0
On-site Staff at Event
Remote monitoring only
Client Context
A private 50th wedding anniversary celebration was hosted at the St. Regis Mumbai's banquet hall on the 38th floor — one of the most prestigious private event venues in the city. The event required a full professional audio production: a live band stage, a DJ setup, a large-format digital mixing console, line array speaker stacks, and amplifier racks.
The scale and duration of the event were significant — setup began at 10 AM, sound checks ran from noon through 3 PM, the event itself ran from 8 PM through 4 AM, representing an 18-hour continuous operational window for the audio system. Venue lighting was handled on house power. SmartBatt was tasked exclusively with powering the sound production infrastructure.
St. Regis Mumbai banquet hall — 38th floor, stage lit, line array deployed, crystal chandeliers overhead. All sound equipment was powered by a single SmartBatt unit. House power handled lighting.
The Challenge
Cable routing from street level to the 38th floor is not viable
Running generator cables up 38 floors through a luxury hotel is not logistically permitted and causes substantial transmission losses — voltage drop over that cable run would require significantly oversizing the generator to compensate.
A DG on-site would require a 125 KVA equivalent
To account for transmission losses and maintain stable power delivery to sensitive audio equipment — an oversized, costly, and disruptive solution for an indoor luxury venue.
Noise and exhaust in an enclosed luxury setting
Operating a diesel generator inside or adjacent to a premium hotel banquet hall is incompatible with the event environment and hotel standards.
18-hour continuous run
A DG would need to be kept running and attended from 10 AM through 4 AM — requiring a generator operator on-site for the full duration, adding cost and staffing complexity.
Sensitive audio equipment requires clean, stable power
Diesel generators produce voltage fluctuations that can affect digital consoles, amplifiers, and signal processors.
View from the 38th floor at St. Regis Mumbai. Running diesel generator cables from street level to this height is logistically impractical and technically lossy — battery power was the only clean solution.
The SmartBatt Solution
A single SmartBatt unit was brought up to the 38th floor and connected directly to the sound production equipment — no cable runs, no generator coordination, no fuel logistics.
The unit was placed adjacent to the mixing console and amplifier racks. The sound team plugged their equipment directly into the SmartBatt unit the same way they would connect to any standard power source — no change to their workflow or equipment configuration.
Remote Monitoring, Zero On-Site Staffing — The SmartBatt team set up in the morning, confirmed connectivity, and did not need to remain on-site for the duration of the 18-hour event. Load and state-of-charge were monitored remotely via the SmartBatt app throughout the evening.
Wrap Without a Technician
At the conclusion of the event, the sound production team disconnected their equipment independently — a standard unplug, requiring no SmartBatt technician present at wrap. The unit was collected the following morning at 8 AM as the venue teams completed their own disassembly.
The SmartBatt unit positioned behind the bar counter — display panel active, quietly powering the entire sound system for 18 hours without a single intervention. No noise, no exhaust, no one noticed it was there.
Equipment Powered
Amplifier racks, line array stack, and signal processing equipment — the full audio production load powered by SmartBatt. Shure wireless antenna and moving head fixtures visible.
The digital mixing console during sound check — Shure wireless microphones staged and ready. The console, amplifiers, and all connected equipment ran on battery power for the full 18-hour window.
Cost Savings
40%
Powering the sound system via SmartBatt reduced energy costs for this deployment by approximately 40% compared to the equivalent diesel generator solution required for a 38th-floor indoor venue — a figure that accounts for the 125 KVA DG sizing that would have been necessary to overcome transmission losses. The saving excludes any cable costs that a generator solution would require to cover the 38 floors, which would widen the effective cost advantage further.
Impact Delivered
Commercial Impact
Energy costs for sound production were approximately 40% lower than the DG-equivalent solution. Beyond the direct cost saving, the battery approach eliminated the need for an operator on-site through out the 18 hours, removed fuel procurement and delivery logistics, and required no additional vendor coordination at a venue where operational complexity was already high.
Environmental Impact
- ✓Diesel avoided: ~234 litres (equivalent 125 KVA DG at ~13 L/hr × 18 hrs)
- ✓CO₂ not emitted: ~627 kg
- ✓Zero exhaust, zero particulates, and zero NOx inside an enclosed 38th-floor banquet hall
- ✓Zero noise contribution from power generation — critical in a setting where audio quality was the centrepiece of the event
Operational Impact
- ✓Remote monitoring: SmartBatt team was not required to be present throughout the event. Load and state-of-charge tracked via app throughout the evening — no on-site staffing required post-setup
- ✓Plug-and-play for the sound team: The production crew disconnected equipment independently, with no SmartBatt technician present at wrap
- ✓Clean power: Battery inverter output delivers stable, clean sine-wave power — no voltage fluctuations affecting digital consoles and amplifiers
- ✓Zero noise from power source: No generator noise at the power supply point — one less variable for the sound engineer
- ✓Logistics simplified: One unit, carried up in a lift. No cable runs across 38 floors, no street-level generator placement, no requirement for a PWD certificate, no hotel coordination for fuel or exhaust routing
The DiGiCo console being configured during sound check. Console, amplifier racks, and the full speaker system all drew power from the SmartBatt unit for the entire 18-hour operational window.