Tesla-backed Company Builds MicroGrids
A Tanzania-based startup has announced the deployment of a new micro electrical grid which is now powering about 1000 buildings in two Rwandan villages.
The Tesla-backed company ZOLA Electric makes use of a very Powerwall-like system - although at a much smaller output.
Originally, the company used a rudimentary solar panel and battery pack system which was enough to power some lights, a radio, and charge some personal devices, like phones.
That system has allowed the company to bring electricity to over 1.5 million people. It turns out simple solar panels and small batteries are easy to manufacture and disperse.
But this recent expansion into Rwanda relies on a newer system called INFINITY.
From the website, it seems that INFINITY's strength relies in its ease of installation and the ability to effortlessly upscale. Faster inverters supposedly keep the battery system nimble - keeping up with power failures in the main grid faster than more conventional systems.
This is the system that ZOLA used to make minigrids in two Rwandan villages.
The project took about 10 months to complete, and created stable, sustainable grids to keep the lights on. The grid in the village Gakagati has a capacity of 120 kilowatts, which might seem a bit low, but INFINITY systems are very easy to expand, and ZOLA predicts they'll be able to double that capacity over time.
And if you're thinking that these mini-grids sound a little like the energy grids that Tesla is working on, that's not a coincidence.
Tesla is a major shareholder of ZOLA, and gained that position after acquiring the solar roofing company SolarCities back in 2016.
This is not to say that ZOLA is specifically taking cues from Tesla - or the other way around - but innovative tech companies often come to similar ideas about how to solve problems, and the situation in Rwanda is certainly similar to the environments that Tesla has been supporting recently.
Rwanda's main source of energy as of 2021 was reported to be firewood. Most of the main population centers have regular electricity on a stable grid fed by hydroelectric dams - but like many other countries, rural areas have little to no access to electricity. Minigrids make a tonne of sense in these environments.
In fact, back in 2016, Elon Musk predicted this sort of grid was inevitable - especially for places that don't have a more conventional energy grid.
The advancements in battery-based energy grids are what's allowing companies like ZOLA to leapfrog villages into these stable, decentralized grids - skipping the decline of the aging power systems that many industrialized areas are having to deal with now.
Tesla backing companies like ZOLA is great to see. Tesla can't - and shouldn't - be everywhere. Supporting the growth of local services run by the people who live in those communities is a much better solution for the growth of energy access across the globe.