Less than 30 percent of people living in Africa have access to electricity. And the ones who have, don’t have it regularly due to chronic power shortages after years of underinvestment and mismanagement by government agencies.
In countries like Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, it is suicide for any business to operate without a stand-by diesel-powered generator.
But California-based technology firm Tesla wants to change this with a power-storage battery that can store renewable energy for longer and at half the current coast. Tesla’s Powerwall has been hailed as the energy technology that Africa’s off-grid population have been waiting for.
The Powerwall, designed by South Africa-born entrepreneur Elon Musk, was sold out in preorders just a week after it had been launched and the next available piece will only be available in mid 2016.
According to Rolake Akinkugbe, head of energy and natural resources at FBN Capital in Lagos, Nigeria, the Powerwall is a good idea but could be too expensive for many people on the continent whose per capita income fall below the cheapest buying price of $3,000 for a 7KWh unit.
“For Africa’s energy consumers and low-income groups, affordability is the main hurdle for the Powerwall’s adoption,” Akinkugbe said in an opinion piece published by The Guardian.
“Tesla’s 7-kilowatt-hours (kWh) capacity battery costs $3,000 upfront, excluding installation.”
The price of the Power wall is however expected to drop as others develop their own model of the same product. Already in South Africa, local tech companies are taking advantage of the Powerwall demand to sell their own versions of the same, htxt.africa reported.
Despite abundance of renewable energy sources such as wind and sun, many Africans still depend on fossil fuel sources such as oil and coal, with renewable energy only accounting for less than a quarter of the continents installed capacity.
But pay-as-you-go models of renewable energy solution like Kenya’s M-solar that utilizes the country’s revolutionary mobile payment system and Azuri Technologies solar panel rentals in South Africa have proven cost effective ways of reaching the masses in Africa without the high initial cost.
“But Tesla’s storage solution could help accelerate Africa’s permanent transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, thus aiding the continent’s fight against environmentally destructive greenhouse gas emissions,” Akinkugbe said.
“Existing small-scale solar battery devices can’t compete with Tesla’s Powerwall battery, which can supply 1,000 watts for at least 10 hours and possibly more.”
Furthermore, Tesla could be working on a cheaper version of the power pack for developed countries that could allow for more than one house to cost share the installation cost since most African homes only need less than six hour of lighting per day.
“Africa is grappling with the challenge of transitioning to clean energy systems such as solar. That transition would be smoother if countries’ grid-reliant communities – and not just off-grid ones – formed a core constituency for solar technology,” Akinkugbe said.
