Tesla’s SolarCity is now powering the island of Ta’u in American Samoa, which is located 4,000-miles off the west coast of the United States. The microgrid offers 1.4-megawatts of solar generation capacity and 6-megawatt hours of battery storage from 60 Tesla Powerpacks. “I recall a time they weren’t able to get the boat out here for two months. We rely on that boat for everything, including importing diesel for the generators for all of our electricity. Once diesel gets low, we try to save it by using it only for mornings and afternoons. Water systems here also use pumps, everyone in the village uses and depends on that. It’s hard to live not knowing what’s going to happen. I remember growing up using candlelight. And now, in 2016, we were still experiencing the same problems,” said said Keith Ahsoon, a local resident whose family owns one of the food stores on the island. Continue reading for more interesting images from around the web.
