Orange takes green power to Glastonbury

Veteran festival goers may resent the growing presence of corporate brands at summer music festivals, but one major mobile operator will attempt to get into the sustainable, alternative swing of things at next week's Glastonbury Festival with the launch of a solar and wind powered phone recharging point.

Orange unveiled the seven metre high REcharge Pod, claiming that the micro-wind turbine and solar panels positioned on top of the tent would provide enough power to charge 100 mobile phones simultaneously.

The company said the Pod has been developed in partnership with renewable energy firm GotWind and builds on a smaller portable wind charger, which was trialled at last year's event. It added that it hopes to charge "thousands" of phones using the technology over the three-day event.

A spokeswoman for the company said that it hoped that the REcharge Pod would again act as a trial that it will be able to expand upon for next year. "Our ultimate goal is to one day be in a position to power aspects of the [larger] Orange Chill 'n' Charge tent through renewable energy," she said.

While some critics may dismiss the move as a publicity stunt, the technology further underlines the extent to which mobile phone operators are investigating solar power as a means of powering handheld devices.

Advocates of the approach argue that the relatively low power requirements of handheld devices and rapid improvements in the efficiency of lightweight solar cells, mean that mobile phones and other handheld devices could soon emulate calculators and generate all the power they require through small solar panels.

Apple recently filed a patent for integrating a solar panel into its iconic iPod MP3 player, while UK solar specialist G24i has unveiled a portable solar charger for mobile phones that it is targeting at developing markets in Asia and Africa.