Solar-powered generators: Scotland’s answer to long-lasting power without hurting the environment
Well, this summer you could be soaking up the sun, as a solar generator quietly soaks up the power of the rays beside you, giving you the energy to run any device, with the peace of mind of knowing it’s reliable and kind to the planet.
Staying connected is part of daily life for most of us, but we all need electricity to run the basic items of our home and office – it’s only when there’s a power cut that we realise how much we rely on that power.
And when we’re out and about –whether walking in the Highlands, wild camping, doing the North Coast 500 in a motorhome, or enjoying some off-grid time in the Hebrides – we could all use a reliable power source to give us peace of mind.
Everything under the sun
Using the power of the sun’s rays – harnessed by solar panels - is one of the cleanest, greenest, and easiest ways to charge up a battery. Jackery, one of the leaders in the solar-power industry, has just unveiled its latest portable charger which is more efficient than ever.
Jackery is a US company, which was set up in 2012 in California and by 2018 had developed solar-powered generators, and has now sold more than three million of them worldwide.
With its stated commitment to make the world a better place, it set out to develop kit that ensures we can all enjoy the world around us, without damaging it.
Jackery has been spearheading a series of initiatives to safeguard the natural environment and preserve biodiversity. It partnered with the National Forest Foundation to plant 10,000 trees in the US. Additionally, it made donations in Germany to permanently protect 10 square kilometres of forest. It also participated in a tree planting project in Japan to support environmental protection. Jackery has also partnered with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the world's leading conservation organisation to support WWF's efforts to protect the black-footed ferret, one of North America's most endangered mammals.
The new Solar Generator 2000 Plus, meets the demand for the best green energy with the minimum of hassle. It can power a range of devices through plug sockets and USB ports and, if you need more power you can add on an extra battery pack – so you can power anything under the sun, even after the sun has set.
Latest technology
Jackery’s Solar Generator 2000 Plus has six Jackery SolarSaga 200 solar panels and extra-durable lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells (which could last for 10 years). Even after the cells have been charged more than 4,000 times the batteries should still be able to be recharged up to 70 per cent of their capacity.
If you’re really keen to know the science behind it, you’ll want to know that they have incorporated Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) technology into their structure - this gives an industry-leading solar conversion efficiency rate of up to 25 per cent. What that means to the average consumer, is that it doesn’t have to be bright sunlight to work efficiently – you could still power up your pack in just over two hours, and the noise-free technology means it’ll be quiet as a mouse while it does so.
Plus, the system is easily controlled via the Jackery app – connected via Bluetooth or WiFi.
What’s the advantage of solar-powered generators?
They give you total freedom to explore the great outdoors, do those outside DIY jobs with fully-functioning power tools, take your home office into the garden, or keep the whole family entertained when out for the day, or camping for weeks on end. Having a solar-powered generator means you’ve always got a readily available energy supply to run essential items and life’s little luxuries – a cooler for camping, streaming a movie while you’re under the stars, playing some tunes in the great outdoors or just having peace of mind knowing you’ll have a fully charged phone for any emergency – or even to capture that perfect Instagrammable moment.
And what’s more, it’s an environmentally-friendly way to make electricity, using only the sun’s energy to charge the batteries. The batteries themselves have a long life - Jackery's patented intelligent ChargeShield system/STEP CHARGE fast-charging technology boosts battery life by 50 per cent.
And an extra safety feature prevents any overheating.
Give it the green light
Jackery is proud to uphold the highest sustainability standards throughout the business – ensuring products follow the best-in-class global standards of safety and performance.
For over ten years they have pioneered renewable energy technology, designing and manufacturing high-performance, safe, reliable and affordable portable power generators, that reduce people’s reliance on fossil fuels, in the hope that we can all enjoy the outdoors for longer, without harming the outdoors as we do so.
The company has also been recognised as an industry leader after being given carbon footprint verification from TÜV SÜD, an internationally recognised third-party certification organisation, for two solar panel products and seven portable power products, which is a first for the solar generator industry.
The carbon footprint results of Jackery's products have achieved the international standard ISO 14067:2018, which is a standard that defines the requirements necessary for organisations to qualify the carbon footprint of their products.