Winners Announced For Portable Solar Panel Competition

Two renewable energy companies have been named winners of a £1 million portable solar panel competition run by City of Cardiff Council. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Projects by Renovagen Ltd. and Inside2Outside have been chosen following a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition. The contest was launched to identify and develop innovative and cost effective solutions that provide portable technologies to generate clean renewable energy on vacant or underused land in the city. The Council received funding for the competition from the Welsh Government, Innovate UK and the Department for Energy and Climate Change. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Renovagen Ltd. from Milton Keynes has developed a transportable PV solar farm system that unrolls like a carpet from a small trailer in just a few minutes. The other winners Inside2Outside Ltd. have pioneered a trailer mounted generator with over 40 flexible solar panels that can be attached to nearby structures by a two person team. The Inside 2 Outside team is a partnership consortium that involves the Building Research Establishment, Siemens, Skanska and Baglan Bay based research organisation SPECIFIC. The designs will now be tested at sites in Cardiff and will provide clean energy to a range of buildings and events in the city. There is already interest in the prototypes from outside organisations, including event organisers and military/emergency response operations. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Cabinet Member for Transport, Planning and Sustainability, Cllr. Ramesh Patel said: “Congratulations to the two winners of this SBRI competition I know that they were up against some very stiff opposition from other portable technologies but we ultimately felt that these two projects most closely matched our assessment criteria. Cardiff has developed an excellent reputation for pioneering innovative green energy schemes over the past few years and I look forward with interest to the results from work these companies will now be undertaking in the city.” ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

City of Cardiff Council is the first UK Authority to have run schemes under the SBRI. Previously the Council ran a Heritage Retrofit programme which developed energy saving measures to deal with challenges posed by heritage, listed and old buildings. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​