23.05.12
For many in Africa there is barely access to electricity due to mains power shortages. Infrastructure has not kept rate with the explosion in mobile phone ownership so it is not unusual for people to footway for several hours just to charge their phones.
"Often, charge points are driven by petrol or diesel generators, which are menacing to operate and of course emit carbon dioxide and other pollutants. A commonplace phone charge can cost a considerable amount relative to people's wages," said Mr Kragh.
He was inspired by a unforeseen conversation with a friend to experiment with using solar power as an variant method to charging phones and batteries.
"The project started a few years back when my supporter in Senegal asked me if I had any cheap options for solar power for Africa. I told him that PV [photovoltaics] was way too dear and not a viable option, it required batteries and many other components and he should just recall about it.
"I kept thinking about this, could this really be true? Why could we not use a renewable vitality? So I did some research and realised there was an entire community of people who already make solar panels from tiff," he said.
Source: BBC News