LETTER FROM SOLARPUNKS ON LEANING INTO THE CIVIC EXPERIMENT OF BLACK ROCK CITY

We're a group of fellow burners from creative industries who were sick of diesel generators being a prerequisite for powering gatherings, live music and art - especially at such a precarious moment for our planet. So we got curious: how do we replace the noise and fumes with clean electrons?

Burning Man is a fertile playground to test new ideas for society, so we leaned into the civic experiment. We started by powering a 50-person camp entirely off solar - no diesel generators, but plenty of bruises and burns along the way.

100% Solar-Powered Camp (including HVAC) in 2022

A few years later, we debuted Black Rock City's first utility-scale clean energy power plant, providing free solar for BRC citizens to power mutant vehicles, e-bikes, phones and art installations around the clock - while powering Mayan Warrior and our camp from 100% sun, 24/7.

Black Rock City’s First Utility-Scale Clean Energy Power Plant in 2025

We've deployed this dusty hardware for free off playa too: fire disaster relief, sustainable construction prototypes, art installations, and community gatherings that otherwise would've run on diesel.

Here's what we learned: clean energy isn't just about climate - it's about power. Decentralized systems mean communities capture economic value instead of shipping profits to fossil fuel shareholders. It means local jobs, disaster resilience, and enabling communities to generate wealth that can be put toward civic needs.

This transition requires more than better batteries - it requires reimagining who benefits from energy infrastructure and how communities organize around it. Burners are well-resourced (both financially and creatively), and more importantly, have the willingness to exchange and test ideas together.

New Clean (and Human) Energy Paradigms

The Burning Man Project isn’t just an annual festival - it’s a year-round container to collectively innovate. It's a vehicle to transmute art into inspiration, inspiration into action, and action into sustainable impact - both on and off playa.

Supporting regeneration efforts like ours at Burning Man is R&D for systemic change. We can't wait for governments or corporations - we need to act as a community, now.

Let's design our fossil fuel-free future together. Hit us up to see how you can apply your resources or expertise to accelerate this culture-first clean energy transition!

-  SOLARPUNKS