Solar Energy is the future!
Although many places in the world are exposed to a lot of sun, unfortunately they can't afford to make the switch to Solar Energy, and are still living off of Diesel and other fossil fuels.
Tesla wants to change that:
They have teamed up with SolarCity, one of the biggest Businesses for Solar Energy in the US, and started a project that would change the lives of the inhabitants of a whole island.
Within only one year, they have managed to switch the power supply of the island Ta'u completely to Solar Energy.
Ta'u is a small, beautiful Island in American-Samoa, about 6000km from the West Coast, with around 600 inhabitants.
Take a look:
Tesla & SolarCity have installed one of the most advanced microgrids on the island - with 5328 Solar Panels and 60 Tesla Power Packs.
The whole facility manages to produce 1,4 Megawatts - and the Power Packs can store enough energy to supply the island with electricity for 3 whole days without sunshine!
(Although it's very rare that the sun wouldn't shine there for 3 days - but the PowerPacks will also ensure electricity at night time).
And it only takes about 7 hours for all of those batteries to fully re-charge.
"Ta'u is not a postcard from the future, it's a snapshot of what is possible right now. Renewable power is an economical, practical solution for a growing number of locations and energy needs, and islands that have traditionally relied on fossil fuels can easily transition to microgrids powered by solar and storage today."-Peter Rive, Co-Founder of SolarCity
Previously, the island was fully depending on Diesel for their power supply - burning around 400.000 liters of it per year.
Since the Diesel prices were varying so much, the island was always saving money to buy at the right time - and if the Diesel was used up before a new shipment arrived, they only had electricity for certain times of the day.
The shipping cost was also extremely expensive, and sometimes it wasn't even possible for the suppliers to approach the island due to weather conditions.The project cost a total of $8 million and was funded by the American Samoa Economic Development Authority and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
According to Solar City's Co-Founder Rive, the cost is justifiable: "Factoring in the escalating cost of fuel, along with transporting such mass quantities to the small island, the financial impact is substantial", he said.Many public facilities like a hospital, schools and police stations will benefit from the new, clean energy - and of course, all the inhabitant's homes.
-Keith Ahsoon, Inhabitant of Ta'u Island
While they had been working on this project for about 1 year, the news only got released yesterday.
By now, Tesla has completed their $2.6 billion acquisition of SolarCity, making many projects like this possible in the future.
Of course, Ta'u Island is only a small example, but it shows the possibilities we have with solar energy today, and it will provide inspiration and hope to similar communities that are still relying on the unstable and expensive supply of fossil fuels!
Images: 1, 2, 3, Logo by @rubenalexander
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