Solar Power to the People of Calais

Aim

We decided to try and do what we could to help the migration problem currently facing the EU by bringing solar energy to the camp in Calais.

We decided to try and do what we could to help the migration problem currently facing France & the UK. Having worked in the solar industry for a while, I had seen there were enough spare components lying around to build a small PV array, which could provide enough electricity for a few families.

We set out phoning the different solar companies in Bristol to see if we could get everything we needed & eventually had enough components through donations & fundraising to build a small solar pv array. It is a 2.3KW, off-grid system, with batteries to charge during the day that could power the lights at night.

When we reached Calais, we spent the first day touring the camp, looking for the best spot, in the midst of 5000 people living in temporary shelters. Eventually we found a few shelters set up as schools in the Darfur section of the camp. We could only run the electricity to one of the schools & after getting embroiled in some local Politics, we eventually chose the bigger school. 

After a week of building with huge amounts of help from the people of Calais & the people from Darfur living in the camp, we managed to turn the lights on in the school for the first time. It was an amazing scene, with people genuinely overjoyed at the prospect of being able to read & study with lights.

However, we have since had some trouble-shooting with the system due to the configuration of the panels & inverter being incompatible without several other components.

To get these new components, re-wire the system, add a different voltage of battery bank & get out tehre again we need to raise a further £1800.

It would be amazing if you could help us reach this goal and help keep electricity in the school. Anything we raise over this will allow us to start building similar systems for the other schools in the camp.

This project closed unsuccessfully on 31st December 2015