Hundreds arrived on its shores each day, soaked and exhausted from clinging onto rubber boats from Turkey.."Miroyannis hopes to one day power the entire site using solar energy."They've promised me three more and I'm expecting them with great pleasure. Others logged on to messaging applications and Google Maps to plan their onward journey to northern Europe.The first two units of Project Elpis -- which means "hope" in Greek -- were designed and built with the help of Greek solar technology company Entec. But access to electricity can be hard to find in overcrowded camps, nor is it always free in cafes where young and old crowd together over a socket, waiting anxiously to phone home. Everything in Greece is quite bureaucratic," Angelopoulos said. Relieved to have made it, they snapped selfies. Its founders hope to reach as many of the dozens of camps around Greece as possible.

A team of students from Edinburgh University is hoping to change that, having designed a mobile phone charging station powered only by the sun  (Representational Image)                                                     A team of students from Edinburgh University is hoping to change that, having designed a mobile phone charging station powered only by the sun For refugees and migrants stuck in Greece, a smartphone is a lifeline -- as long as its battery lasts."I told them -- you should've brought it yesterday and not one, but four," said Stavros Miroyannis, who manages the camp for families which is run by the local municipality. Now, another three units are in the works with money raised through crowdfunding, a method of generating funds from a large number of people via the internet.

The idea was borne out of a visit last summer of one of the founders, 20-year-old Alexandros Angelopoulos, to the island of Samos, one of the entry China Silicone Rubber O-Rings Manufacturers points into Europe for nearly a million people fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East and beyond.A team of students from Edinburgh University is hoping to change that, having designed a mobile phone charging station powered only by the sun -- something Greece has plenty of. Often, they were stranded at the port sharing one plug. The pair said they had to overcome red tape along the way. "People started asking for my phone to call family and to use the internet," Angelopoulos said."We just wanted to make a positive contribution to local communities through renewable energy," said co-founder Samuel Kellerhals, 21. At the Kara Tepe camp on Lesbos where the first unit was installed, authorities and residents are thrilled. Solar panels have already replaced street lamps.They have installed two units in camps, each configured to generate electricity for 12 plugs an hour using solar energy alone, providing free power to as many as 240 people per unit each day.