British Gas - Solar Pod
British Gas approached Firefly Solar with the proposal of creating an engaging experience that demonstrated what a ‘typical’ domestic grid-tie solar installation would comprise of.
With a 20ft ‘open-side’ shipping container as the base of the unit, Firefly created the Solar Pod, a complex bespoke system using hydraulics that, at-the-flick-of-a-switch, lifted the roof and door mounted Solar PV panels into the optimal position.
In their own words, British Gas say:
“Building a sustainable future for energy supplies makes business sense. It's what our customers, employees and shareholders expect from us. It's also part of our responsibility to minimise the environmental impact of our activities. We're focusing our investment for a sustainable future in two key areas, developing alternative energy sources and off-setting carbon emissions.”
In order to demonstrate these benefits, through engagement in conversation, British Gas proposed the creation of two ‘mobile spaces’ that would allow a clear demonstration of how a ‘grid-tie’ solar installation can dovetail perfectly with everyday modern life.
An initial sketch, provided by experiential agency BEcause XE, showed a standard 20ft shipping container with a number of solar PV panels installed on both the roof and the doors. The brief was clear –
“Can Firefly design and install a solar PV system into a 20ft ‘open-side’ shipping container that clearly demonstrates a ‘*standard British Gas domestic installation’. The installed system should also be capable of powering all items within the shipping container (low energy lighting, plasma TV and three 13Amp plugs) and also have the option to supply any surplus electricity to an additional shipping container fitted out as a cafe and conversation space. The container should also have the ability of being able to function ‘off-grid’.
*The standard British Gas domestic installation contains twelve solar PV panels and an inverter’.
Project managed by Firefly, at our manufacturing facility in Hove UK, the build team, (that consisted of: carpenters, electrical system designers and installers, a hydraulics engineer, steel fabricators and paint sprayers) worked to a pre-defined schedule ensuring that the container was delivered on time and to budget.
Firefly installed a mock-up ‘on-grid’ standard household installation using the latest SMA Sunnyboy Inverters. Data from the 3kW solar array is broadcast via Bluetooth to hand held Sunny Beam data displays, thus allowing people visiting the experience see the amount of power that is being produced by the solar installation in real-time. The same data is also transmitted, in real-time, to an additional converted shipping container that accompanies the Solar Pod.
The 3 kW array provides power for the accompanying Café unit with excess power being stored within the battery bank installed in the Solar Pod.
The 20ft. ‘open –side’ shipping container was transformed, in under six weeks, using the latest advances in ‘off-grid’ solar technology coupled with a complex hydraulic system. The fully automated British Gas ‘Solar Pod’ now sits centrally within British Gas’s latest sustainability campaign that has so far been to a variety of large events and four county shows in Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Berkshire and Worcestershire during September.
