A stadium's power draw is the sum of a lighting load that shrinks as old floodlights are swapped for LEDs, an HVAC/ventilation load that scales with crowd size and shrinks with insulation and heat recovery, and a fixed baseline for media and concessions. Onsite generation adds roof solar (proportional to panel coverage and sunlight), wind turbines (power rising with the cube of wind speed up to a rated limit), and a steady geothermal offset to HVAC. Whatever generation can't cover, the grid supplies; any surplus would export back to it.
load = lighting(led%) + hvac(attendance, insulation%) + baseline
gen = solar(coverage%, sun%) + wind(turbines, speed³) + geothermal
grid_draw = max(0, load − gen)
self_sufficiency = min(100%, gen / load)
- LED retrofit — modern fixtures with automatic and daylight-adaptive control cut lighting energy sharply without cutting light levels.
- Insulation / heat recovery — better envelopes and heat-recovery ventilation are the single biggest lever on HVAC draw, roughly matching the 30–50% cuts real energy-efficient stadiums report.
- Roof solar — a stadium roof is a huge, mostly unused surface; coverage and sunlight together set how much of the load it can offset directly.
- Wind turbines — output rises with the cube of wind speed, so a calm day produces almost nothing while a windy one can dominate the generation mix.
- Geothermal — a small, weather-independent offset specifically to the HVAC load, valuable because it doesn't fluctuate with the sky.
Real-world relevance: this is the same load-vs-generation accounting facility managers use to size solar arrays and retrofit budgets for arenas and stadiums aiming to cut grid dependence and emissions on event days.