Summer Concerts Powered by the Sun . . .
For this blog I wanted to focus on something I think is really amazing and really an appropriate topic for Earth Month. For any of you who have attended one of our outdoor summer concerts, you have experienced what I am referring to, whether or not you realized it at the time! I am referring to our Mobile Solar Generator that provides all of the power for our outdoor summer concert series, completely off the grid and produced locally here on the Central Coast. The generator is manufactured by Mobile Solar based out of Atascadero and currently provided to us by Semmes and Co.
The story behind the relationship with Mobile Solar and Semmes and Co. is really an example of the amazing community we are a part of here on the Central Coast. Travis Semmes, founder of Mobile Solar, is the son of Turko Semmes who owns Semmes and Co. and actually built Niels and Bimmer’s home here in Templeton. Before starting Mobile Solar, Travis had been working for his father and during that time built his first prototype unit, which they began to use at job sites replacing loud and dirty diesel generators. When I asked Travis how he started the company he said a lot of his co-workers told him “you ought to build these things and sell them!” Travis said it took him a while to actually listen to the advice, but he finally did and hasn’t looked back since.
A short time after Travis started building the generators to sell, Niels and Bimmer caught wind of what he was doing and proposed a trade involving wine and concert tickets in exchange for using one of the trailers to power the outdoor concerts. For Travis, just starting out his company this was a great opportunity and as he put it “I thought this was the greatest deal in the world! Castoro makes amazing wine and you usually have a music group I enjoy.”
For us at Castoro it was an amazing opportunity to help out a company we believed in and to take our company further in the direction of sustainability. Already having a full solar array on the roof of our events building this generator was right up our alley. Not only are these generators off the grid but they provide much cleaner power than we would get from the grid, resulting in a much cleaner sound through the PA system during our concerts. With conventional power there is a certain amount of white noise and static present, but with these solar generators the sound is clean as a whistle.
Currently our solar generator is provided by Semmes and Co. while Travis continues to keep busy making units for companies all over the world. To learn more about Mobile Solar and how Travis has been helping with the crisis in Japan check out this recent article from The Tribune:
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/04/12/1560308/atascadero-firm-aids-japan-relief.html
http://www.mobilesolarpower.net/
Until Next Time,
Cheers,
Luke
