Concept for the Solar Cell Benches

Cycling and hiking are popular in southern Öland and a couple of years ago Öland's tourism organization launched a website with bicycle routes, including a World Heritage trail in southern Öland.

Mörbylånga municipality manages 140 kilometres of hiking trails in the world heritage site Södra Öland's agricultural landscape. The hiking trails and cycle tours help World Heritage visitors to get out into the landscape and experience our unique farming landscape. In order for cyclists and hikers to be able to use their mobiles, they must also be able to charge them.

The idea was to find a way to offer visitors in the agricultural landscape the opportunity to charge their mobiles along some of the service areas that the municipality manages. Here, cyclists and hikers could take a break while getting their phones charged.

Sustainability is one of the key words when it comes to charging stations, the sun's energy should be used to offer visitors to the World Heritage site a new service/product. It also facilitates sustainable and environmentally friendly tourism on foot and by bicycle.

The project has been evaluated by cyclists, hikers and entrepreneurs such as Öland’s guides offering bike rides and hikes in the farming landscape.

We see that the World Heritage and Biosphere Reserves involved in the project can benefit greatly from our experiences.

The Problem/Challenge

Cycling and hiking are popular in southern Öland and a couple of years ago Öland's tourism organization launched a website with bicycle routes, including a World Heritage trail in southern Öland. Mörbylånga municipality manages 140 kilometres of hiking trails in the world heritage site, the Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland. The hiking trails and cycle tours help World Heritage visitors to get out into the landscape and experience our unique farming landscape. In order for cyclists and hikers to be able to use their mobiles, they must also be able to charge them.

Development Process

The idea is to find a way to offer visitors to the agricultural landscape the opportunity to charge their mobiles along some of the services areas that the municipality manages. Here, cyclists and hikers can take a break while getting their phones charged. We wanted to offer and test a product where the charging for mobiles is produced by environmentally friendly solar energy.

Stakeholders

The project with the charging stations was carried out in cooperation with Eketorps Borg, one of the largest tourist destinations in South Öland.

The Product/Service

We wanted to test a product that converts solar energy into electricity and which easily offers visitors to The Agricultural landscape of Southern Öland the possibility to charge their mobiles and have free access to WiFi.

The two charging stations (photovoltaic benches) are located at service areas where cycling and hiking trails meet, at the Eketorp castle destination. In this way, those who are out and about in the unique farming landscape can search for digital information about cycling and hiking trails, post pictures on social media and so on without having to worry about the phones discharging.

Sustainability

Sustainability is one of the keywords when it comes to charging stations, the sun's energy should be used to offer visitors to the World Heritage site with a new service/product. It also facilitates sustainable and environmentally friendly tourism on foot and by bicycle.

Piloting

The idea for the charging stations came during an all-partner meeting on south Öland in September 2018. Since then, the issue has been discussed with the municipality's climate strategist and those responsible for the municipal hiking trails. All parties have been in favour of the idea.

Evaluation

The product has been evaluated, both through questions and through the statistics collected from the use of the benches we can see how many people have used the charger and the WiFi.

Costs

The photovoltaic benches cost approximately SEK 35,000 each and two were part of the pilot project.

Lessons Learned

The benches have received a lot of media attention and been widely used. Over 2 000 have used the wireless charging and a little over 1 800 have connected to the WiFi network.

Relevance to Other Sites

Every year, 1000's of people cycle and walk in the unique farming landscape of southern Öland. By testing a product that facilitates and improves their experience of our World Heritage Site, we can contribute with knowledge to the World Heritage and Biosphere Areas that are part of the project.

Reflections

The benches are sensitive and require someone to take care of them and take them in in the winter.

The Solar Cell Benches and the Global Goals

The Solar Cell Benches have contributed to the Global Goals targets 7.2 Increase Global Percentage of Renewable Energy, 11.4 Protect the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage and 12.8 Promote Universal Understanding of Sustainable Lifestyles.