Brazil becomes home to world's first player-powered football pitch

Energy-capturing tiles developed by British firm power floodlights in Rio slum

A field in a Rio de Janeiro slum has become home to the world's first player-powered football pitch, which harnesses the kinetic energy of players' movements to provide night-time illumination.

The project, sponsored by Royal Dutch Shell, saw about 200 energy-capturing tiles developed by British startup Pavegen installed the width and breadth of the field and covered by a layer of AstroTurf.

While the head of Pavegen, engineer Laurence Kemball-Cook, took pains not to reveal the exact science behind the tiles, his father and the company's chairman, Richard Kemball-Cook, said they use a system of cogs. When stepped on, the cogs spin like tops and act like generators, he said.

Each tile costs about $500 (£310), but the price is falling as the 35-employee company refines its manufacturing process, Laurence Kemball-Cook said.

Working in conjunction with solar panels also installed around the field, the player-powered tiles feed electricity to a system of floodlights overhead. 



"We've effectively turned this community into a real-life science experiment," he said. "I believe this technology can be one of the future ways we illuminate our cities."

Pavegen has installed similar tiles in train stations in Europe, shopping centres in Australia and Terminal 3 of London's Heathrow Airport, Kemball-Cook added.

He said: “Pavegen is at a critical point in our development, our focus is scale, and this pitch represents the largest use of our technology to date. We have taken this idea from a bedroom in London to a football pitch in Brazil with the support of Shell. We look forward to continuing to work together with Shell around the world.”

The technology was first presented to Shell by Kemball-Cook in 2010 during his application to the Shell LiveWIRE competition in the UK. “Entrepreneurs should know no rules and overcome all barriers,” Kemball-Cook said.

“The project emphasises the importance of Stem subjects within sport, encouraging young innovators of the future to make a real difference in their community.”