PPL PWR @ Valley Fest '16

[gallery columns="5" ids="515,527,519,523,525,529,539,545,547,549"]After epic journeys from London to Bristol, Bridgewater to Leicester and, well, back again, the PPL PWR team arrived in Chew Magna for this year’s Valley Fest 2016!The team were to host the Green Energy Tipi in the Village Green section up on the hill, with a lovely view through the Valley Fest sign, overlooking the Main Stage. Tasked with providing ‘edutainment’ to an array of festival-goers - from ages 8 to 80! - on the subjects of green energy, renewables and sustainability, the team put together an awesome display of commercial, makeshift and research-based stalls.

Navitron bring the power

To open, this included a magnificent collection of products from Navitron; a renewable technology company based Leicestershire. They provided equipment to generate energy from solar thermal, through battery-stored Photo voltaic; to a giant wind turbine erected just outside the tipi. People from all walks of life - motor homers, barge-livers, off-grid folk and many others – represented an ideal crowd to hear about the products available that can help them become even greener. The PPL PWR team, primed and ready, were able to explain the processes behind the technologies, including the copper pipe-evacuated tube workings behind Navitron’s solar thermal panels, and should have been on commission! Passing on Navitron's details to future customers.

Adam 'Can Do' Cane

Alongside this professional kit, PPL PWR’s own Adam Cane had put together his own hand-made wind turbine, which, along with a water turbine and a bike-alternator, fed into a makeshift dashboard with digital voltage displays! All the power was stored in a lead-acid battery, fed through a transformer and used to charge phones, laptops, etc entirely off-grid! Thank goodness it was a windy day!

Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Next up was a stall dedicated to hydrogen power; small hydrogen-fuel cell electric cars, plenty of fuel cells to play with and a real working Fuel Cell stack, were used to demonstrate electrolysis (the creation of hydrogen) and generation of electricity from hydrogen - one of our future fuel solutions. The kids loved playing with the flashing cars almost as much as the adults and all sorts of discussions about energy storage were forthcoming from a highly engaged and curious public.

Competently Composting

Comp-A-Tent led another sustainable section of the tipi, displaying a timeline of degradation of the materials used in their patented, compostable tent and pitching three of these wonderful contraptions just outside the tipi. Several people commented how robust these were, particularly during the extremely stormy moments, outliving even the best of gazebos for other attractions around the festival! Currently scaling up their manufacture, make sure to look out for them at festivals in 2017!

Thanks

All in all, the PPL PWR team had an amazing time chatting to festival-goers about a wide range of sustainable solutions and hoped to have sparked some curiosity in the young and old alike. Here's hoping to be invited back next year and to being bigger and greener in 2017!Valley Fest is held by YeoValley. The next event will be held Friday 4th - Sunday 6th August 2017. - click here for the latest.