A Whole Island Just Got Solar-Powered By Tesla & SolarCity
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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© Sirwinchester
Imagine what a charity project like this one could do to 3rd world countries. Rural parts of india and africa for example have lots of sun and would desperately need reliable electricity
Very true. I hope to see more charity projects that are oriented towards clean energy in the future.
Once we run the lobbyist in the U.S. out of business we can see more of these in the states. The technology is obviously available, just not in the best interest of the electric monopolies to have a clean solution such as this project.
Every month I visit the electric company to pay my bill. And every month I remind them their days are numbered. Of course they laugh, and that's ok. As I do not see it as a laughing matter.
Great post.
You are right - sadly, profit is still more important in our world than caring for our planet's health. But like you said, things will change sooner or later anyway! Thanks for your input!
Wow, this is amazing!
Yes, and I hope to see more projects like this in the future!
It’s really a pity that many parts of the world have so much sun but simply can’t afford solar energy
I think that too, everytime I visit a warm but poor country. We can only hope that this will change in the future, and solar energy will become more affordable and accessible to those parts of the world
What an awesome project. The villagers must be so relieved & happy!
I think so too! The interviewed man even said that he grew up having to depend on candle light, and now they are living in a revolution!
I love Elon Musk’s futuristic visions. Some may say his dreams are too big, but I think he’s doing it right.
Agreed. He's one of the very few people that dreams big and often makes those dreams come true!
There are no dreams that are too big, just people that can only imagine too small.
solar energy could be useful in sooo many parts of the world. they just need to find a way to make it more affordable
That's right - I hope they'll be able to fix that in the future
Obviously there’s still along way to go but … imagine a major city like Madrid being only solar-powered? That’d be awesome!!
That would be amazing and a major goal we should strive towards!
Renewable energy sources are the future. We need to see more projects like this!!
we're getting there, slowly but steadily!
Tesla, you continue to amaze us with your innovations and goals! keep that up!
Yes!!