A solar bench has been installed on the Warners Bay foreshore in Lake Macquarie – it is fully self contained and can wirelessly recharge compatible phones.
Solar Bench in Lake Macquarie
The smart solar bench was installed by the Lake Macquarie City Council and has the future capacity to act as a WiFi hotspot, according to Lakes Mail.
Manager of community planning for the Lake Macquarie City Council, Andrew Bryant, discussed the potential future rollout of further solar benches if this one is a success:
“This is a fully self-contained unit. It provides seating for up to four adults, and solar panels beneath the transparent bench seat can produce up to 100W of electrical power every hour – enough to charge mobile phones, tablets and other smart devices,” Mr Bryant said. He went on to discuss the future of renewables and how quickly tech is coming along:
“This sort of thing would have been science fiction just a few years ago, but users with compatible phones can simply place them on a designated area of the bench to activate recharging,” Mr Bryant said.
Lastly, Mr. Bryant discussed the future-proofing the council and manufacturer have built into the bench so they’re able to upgrade it in the future:
“The internal mechanisms are designed to be upgraded depending on our future needs,” Mr Bryant said.
“We will monitor its use and the needs of the community and will make a decision on these capabilities down the track.”
We’ve reached out to the Lake Macquarie Council to ask about the brand of hte solar benches, but it appears that they’re made by European company Steora:
“Perth has such a great solar resource, so the more we can give residents the opportunity to harness it the better,” Mr Lozic said. If you want to read more about Perth solar benches please click here.
