AONB solar power launch

On perhaps the wettest day of 2010 so far in the South West we launched our newly built solar power unit and surprisingly it lasted for six and a half hours with power to spare! Admittedly most of the power was stored in the batteries from the sunshine on the day before but we were still getting a very slight charge of 0.3 amps from the grey skies over Croyde. The unit is now soaking up whatever rays the remainder of England’s summer has to offer, ready for its next outing.

When running on the solar unit, instead of mains electricity or generator power, we choose not to use the on-board air conditioning unit due to its heavy power consumption but power for absolutely everything else, including lights, audio and projection all come from the sun’s energy.

This unit simply wouldn’t have come into existence without the money put in by AONB North Devon from their sustainable development fund, so huge thanks to them for their foresight and we hope it lives on for many years to come so it allows us to put on shows to people in a far wider range of locations without the distracting hum and pollution of a generator. Alongside the solar power, the AONB also supported the production of a special film with the Movie Bus project detailing the history of North Devon’s beautifully preserved coastline. This film will be screened at several of our forthcoming North Devon events and is one not to miss if you have any connection to the beautiful landscape in the North Devon areas of outstanding natural beauty.