WINNIPEG – Visitors to the Forks are among the first in Canada to enjoy free, solar powered phone charging.
A local renewable energy firm installed a Solar Street Charge Unit outdoors at The Forks Wednesday, and people quickly began charging up their smart phones and other devices.
“This is the first installation in Canada,” said Justin Phillips, president of Sycamore Energy, master distributor of the product in Canada. “We put up a demonstration unit at the Forks to showcase it to the community here in Winnipeg.”
The solar power tower is set up outside the Forks Market, where visitors can plug in free of charge for a dose of power from the sun.
“It’s pretty straight forward, we have some solar panels up at the top which provide power to charge the lithium ion batteries and in turn the batteries provide a power source for the charging cables for any type of cell phone or tablet,” Phillips said.
It will charge devices at the same rate as if they were plugged into a wall at home; the intention is let people top up their batteries just enough to get by.
The Solar Street Charge Unit has been tested widely in New York City. Phillips says his company will shortly install two units purchased for use in downtown London, ON and hopes the Forks demonstration will spark more interest in Winnipeg.
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