Stage Directions | Welsh Theatre Goes Solar, Chooses Chauvet

Theatr Brycheiniog in Wales is using Chauvet Colorado fixtures to keep its power draw low now that it’s using solar energy to power the theatre.

You hear a lot about how LEDs are energy-efficient, and the money that it can save you, and how they reduce your carbon footprint. Well, the extension of that is that because they’re efficient, they make it easier to ditch fossil-based energy sources altogether and use alternate energy sources. Case in point: Theatr Brycheiniog in Wales (Wales! Not particularly known for a sunny climate…) recently installed photovoltaic cells on their roof to become a solar-powered facility. And, naturally, they used LEDs to reduce their power draw. Twenty Chauvet Colorado Batten 72 Tour fixtures are supplying light for the theatre.

CHAUVET® ALIGHTS WELSH SOLAR-POWERED THEATRE

BRECON, Wales – CHAUVET®, a leading manufacturer of professional lighting, announces CHAUVET® COLORado™ Batten 72 Tour linear wash lights have been installed in Theatr Brycheiniog, the first solar-powered theatre in Wales. The fixtures were specified by Stage Electrics, a supplier of stage lighting and audio equipment for the entertainment industry, with nine locations across the U.K.

Twenty COLORado™ Batten 72 Tour fixtures were added to the theatre’s lighting rig for a multitude of applications, such as front, side, cyc and overhead lighting. The LED-fitted fixtures joined the existing rig of half LED, half-incandescent lighting sources.

“The challenge has been for lighting designers to adopt different fixtures,” Geraint Thomas, technical manager for Theatr Brycheiniog, said of the use of LEDs in a theatrical setting. “As new lighting designers come here, we first go over the equipment to prepare them to go from incandescent to LEDs.”

The use of LEDs has made a marked improvement in regards to power consumption and heat generation. LEDs have helped to create a cooler environment for the actors on stage reduced the theatre’s overall expenditures.

“We need to accept LEDs as a standard as well as an investment,” Thomas said. “LEDs draw far less power and won’t need to be replaced for ages.”

Theatr Brycheiniog, which opened in 1997, says it is committed to finding ways of reducing its carbon footprint which dovetails the Green Thinking initiative of CHAUVET®.

Another recent green initiative is the installation on its roof of photovoltaic cells, which convert solar radiation into direct current electricity.

For more info about Chauvet, please visit www.chauvetlighting.com.