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Firefly Solar have completed the first in a series of solar installations for NGO Computer Aid International. Launched earlier this year the project will see a fleet of solar powered cyber cafes making their way to Africa. The cyber cafes are fitted out within converted shipping containers and are fully insulated and furbished with electric lighting, desks, chairs and PCs.
Computer Aid have so far shipped over 160,000 ex corporate PCs from the UK to countries around Africa bringing modern technologies to communities that need them most. This new innovation offers a complete one-stop solution where infrastructure is limited. Firefly’s Daniel Spencer said;
“These units can be placed in any remote location far away from mains power or internet connectivity, the first container will be located over 70km from the closest tarmacked road offering people an internet connection for the first time. The roof mounted solar array supplies all the power needed to run the café through the whole range of weather patterns at its destination. The design ensures safely packed transit during shipping yet is still easily re-assembled by non-technical end users upon arrival, equally the expensive roof panels are securely welded down.”
The cyber café houses a complete eleven user set up with all the monitors running off just one standard Pentium 4 PC. The thin client workstations were chosen for their efficiency so the whole system uses just a fraction of the power needed by conventional PC's. This first cyber café is being sent to Macha in Zambia to provide the community with Internet access through Africa’s largest rural Wi-Fi network or the container’s own satellite uplink. Tony Roberts, CEO of Computer Aid International said:
“This concept is suited to a wide variety of uses, such as emergency relief where connectivity is required at short notice. It can also be used in schools or by MPs to communicate with their local constituents, as well as rural hospitals to provide online training for health workers”.

Firefly have announced that they are to be the exclusive technical production partner for the Brighton Festival Fringe in 2010. Firefly will be with the festival to ensure internal productions are delivered sustainably.

Brighton Festival Fringe is one of the largest and fastest-growing open access arts festival in the world and the largest in England. Anyone can put on an event in the Fringe, so it functions as a fantastic springboard for new work as well as a guaranteed platform for more established acts. It is one of Britain’s most dynamic – and democratic – arts festivals, rapidly establishing itself as a testing-ground for new work.

Brighton & Hove has held Fringe activity since the Brighton Festival was launched in 1967. In 2006 the Fringe became a company in its own right and appointed an independent board of directors: it is also a registered charity. Fringe 2010 will run from May 1-23.

Firefly will be providing a number of solar powered stages using the Orion portable solar generator systems as well as supplying all technical infrastructures across Fringe City, which is Brighton’s biggest street party and a unique showcase for Fringe acts. Now in its fourth year, it takes place in the heart of the city each Saturday in May, bringing with it live music, food and drink stalls, street art, installations, and walkabout performers from all over the world. It also includes Fringe Street, a day of programmed international street theatre. In 2009 34,000 people attended the events across the month.

Firefly’s partnership with the Festival Fringe will form part of its drive towards renewables and a new greener era. Fringe City is rapidly becoming one of the city’s flagship events, showcasing Brighton & Hove’s push towards sustainable events.

You can register your fringe event here;

http://www.brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk/registration/

For all technical support please contact Firefly at;

http://fireflysolar.co.uk/contact

Firefly Solar, the UK’s biggest and most technically advanced mobile solar generator solution for the events industry has gone truly international! The Firefly convoy has just returned from Holland’s Lowlands Festival which took place from 21st–23rd August 2009.

Firefly was commissioned by Essent Energy to power their Zero CO2 display showcasing alternative means of energy production. The display consisted of a set of wooden flat-packed houses, within which festival-goers were able to use an interactive carbon calculator to work out their overall carbon footprint imposed at the festival. Furthermore these calculators gave the user the opportunity to offset their emissions by suggesting an accurate monetary donation for Essent’s ‘Gold Standard Label’ biomass projects that are currently underway in China and Turkey. As a result, Lowland’s festival-goers offset a total of 37,821 kg of C02, demonstrating the extent to which the green festival movement is now spreading across international borders, and the public’s enthusiasm to take responsibility and make a difference.

Essent Energy is the largest producer of renewable energy in the Benelux countries, and Firefly Solar are pleased to help support their ‘Road to Copenhagen’ campaign which was launched at Lowlands. It involves a spectacular road trip through the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark on clean, green electric scooters, ending at Copenhagen. Here the crucial COP15 international conference (where the climate agreements from Kyoto will be reassessed) an interactive manifesto on sustainable solutions and the advantages of electric vehicles will be presented to a number of prominent world leaders. Accompanied along the way by opinion leaders such as politicians, captains of industry and prominent artists and writers, the trip has already received notable support. Find out more at www.theroadtocopenhagen.com

Highlighting the endless possibilities of Firefly’s solar arrays, the technical production company adapted their usual ‘stand alone’ panels so that they could be successfully attached to the roofs of flat pack houses. Additionally, Firefly’s three renewable Orion portable solar generators were linked up together to provide 15KVA of power which supplied the energy requirements for the whole area.

Through the innovative use of these environmentally-friendly power solutions and the exciting opportunities that Firefly Solar is securing overseas, the company is providing a cutting edge approach in minimizing the harmful emissions produced in the events industry. By actively supporting festivals which aim to improve their green credentials, such as Lowlands, Firefly Solar represents a truly ground-breaking example of a timely, responsible and quality power supplier that the 21st century events industry calls for.

Firefly successfully unveiled their new range of Pictor portable solar generators at Glastonbury Festival. The Pictor is the 'little brother' of the Orion portable solar generator and is used to power smaller appliances. They are compact, easily handled mobile devices which are ideal for situations ranging from exhibition stands to trade shows and information points where space is limited.

With a direct 230V AC output capable of delivering up to 400W continuously the units are perfectly suited for powering laptops, TV’s, mobile phone chargers and small projectors. At Glastonbury Festival Pictor portable solar generators were used by Wateraid and Oxfam to power their information and promotional stalls within the hospitality area.

Features of the Pictor solar generator include a built in solar panel in the roof which is fully adjustable to pivot towards the sun and a built in user friendly battery monitor which produces a selection of readings including a read out of the remaining time available at your current usage.

Dan Spencer says “Over the years many potential clients have cited the need for a smaller more flexible and mobile solar generator which still has an output within the league of full scale solar generators."

The new boundary to cross was to create a personal sized system which could be pushed through a door and switched on by a client rather than needing to be driven through a gate and manned by a solar generator technician.

Greenpeace and Wateraid volunteers enjoyed proving the user simplicity of the Pictors for us in the fields of Glastonbury, charging a selection of their phones, laptops and other gizmos - often doing the system switch on and off intuitively for themselves.”

Following the success of the Sun Hut, a solar information centre and static mobile phone charging station powered by solar energy, Solar Aid is set to be the Big Chill’s charity partner for 2009. As a result of this partnership, Firefly was commissioned by Solar Aid to develop a pair of roaming portable solar generators to charge mobile phones for use at the event this summer.

The aim of the project is to have a set of roaming phone chargers from which the public can receive a 15 minute booster charge which will enable them to send urgent text messages or make a call to find their lost friends.

Best of all, the profits will go straight back into bringing solar energy to the developing world. So, everyone is a winner; rural communities in Africa, the environment and the disorientated festival-goer!

Heading up the design of the charger, Paul Brain explains, “It is really exciting that Firefly have been given this opportunity to showcase the flexibility of the company and our ability to use mobile solar generators in diferent ways. The challenge of this project was finding the balance between having enough power whilst remaining light enough to move around a festival site. I think the design has achieved both goals.”

This project marks the start of a number of new portable solar generator products in development at Firefly Solar. Earlier in the summer Firefly successfully launched the new Pictor portable solar generator, a smaller solar generator capable of running smaller appliances.