Tesla has continued with its expansion into Africa as they have partnered with Distribution Power Africa (DPA) to provide solar energy storage solutions. DPA joins the list of companies that are excited about the potential of experiencing better energy storage solutions for their products by integrating Tesla Powerwall.
This follows the successful completion of a 12-month trial integrating of the Tesla Powerwall with one of Africa’s largest telecommunication provider, Econet. This will see Econet’s telecommunication towers provide backup power to 260 Econet sites across Africa.
In addition Distributed Power Africa [DPA], a subsidiary of Econet Global, will be installing Tesla Powerwalls to power Econet Wireless’ local operations for their telecommunications towers; commencing one of Africa’s largest deployments of AC coupled Lithium-ion batteries in the telecoms sector.
[Read: Charles Mwangi resigns from Tesla Motors]
Norman Moyo, CEO Econet Energy (and DPA) said that his company was interested in making the partnership with Tesla after the trial after they were impressed with the performance.
“We were impressed with the performance of Tesla Powerwall during the trial stage. It addresses the power back up requirements, offers 100% depth of discharge and has a wide temperature operating range. It also offers real time monitoring and will help mitigate against current battery theft issues being experience with lead acid batteries. We look forward to working with Tesla on other initiatives in energy security,” Moyo said.
Tesla will supply DPA with 520 Powerwalls, with the first 65 sites to be installed in the coming months. Tesla Motors has been known for making high-quality electric vehicles, as well as for their ability to successfully rebrand existing technologies.
With great interest from the Commercial and Industrial sector in South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe for renewable energy solutions like these, DPA with operations in Kenya is looking forward to delivering increased access to solar power and battery technology through strategic partnerships with global technology leaders.
“South Africa and Zimbabwe are among the many African countries where increased cases of battery theft have been reported to be the result of frequent power outages in areas with intermittent grid supply,” Mr. Moyo added.
The DPA use of Tesla Powerwall will provide telecoms customers with the convenience of improved service delivery, and comes at a strategic point when the African continent is working towards improving its power supply.
[See also: Oserian launches solar plant to power operations]
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