Following the successful installation of its solar-powered charging station in the Mooiplaas informal settlement, in Centurion, renewable-energy supplier ePower Holdings is installing additional charging stations, with the latest stations to be installed in Shoshanguve, Gauteng, and in Zambia, at the end of this month.

With about eight-million people in South Africa and 600-million people in Africa without access to electricity, ePower, established in 2015, aims to provide electricity for communities in Africa, as well as a distribution point for additional entrepreneurial activities around the power hubs.

“We do not offer a product. We offer an off-grid solution that works, is manageable and self-sufficient in the form of 20 ft and 40 ft containers that have 1.8 KW of solar power,” explains ePower cofounder and spokesperson Tariq Yusuf.

Yusuf explains that the 20 ft container can provide 500 household battery swaps a day, while a 40 ft container can provide 1 000 household battery swaps a day. The household battery comprises a 12 V battery system, capable of charging small appliances, while the accompanying light-emitting diode light can light up small spaces. The battery pack, depending on the appliance charged or the light used, can last between eight and ten hours.

The containers also charge cellphone batteries and provide communities with 24-hour TV viewing and an Internet café with WiFi 24/7, as well as educational platforms.

The charging of batteries and cellphones generates enough income to employ about four people in each community, who share the responsibility of ensuring the containers work efficiently.

The 40 ft container at the Mooiplaas informal settlement, which was installed in December 2015 and came into full use at the beginning of this year, currently caters to about14 000 people who live without electricity. The container comprises 72 solar panels and 48 batteries generating about 1.8 kW of electricity, and can provide up to three days of electricity, even during days of little sunshine.

Yusuf adds that ePower aims to include a form of financial services for communities, explaining that community members could have access to cashless payment systems, sending and receiving funds, as well as airtime purchases or playing lotto.

To assist in providing additional services, such as water, ePower is establishing a water services provision company, eH2O, which aims to sink boreholes next to the solar-powered charging stations and install water purification and storage systems to provide water for local communities.

Currently exhibited at the Mooiplaas charging station is a demonstration water pumping, purification and storage model, provided by solar product supplier Afrisolar Supplies.

Complementing the service offering is the environment-friendly nonflush, dry sanitation toilet, Enviro-Loo, installed earlier this month.

ePower self-funded the power stations at Mooiplaas and Shoshanguve, but will fund the station in Zambia through a partnership with ePower Zambia. ePower is arranging for one container to be transported to Namibia as a demonstration model and pilot project,Yusuf says.

“We have also entered the Beyond the Grid Zambia Fund aimed at powering one-million Zambians living off the grid. We strongly believe that this will assist in increasing demand for containers in Zambia,” he adds.

ePower further plans to roll out 15 containers in each country by 2019, with entrepreneurs running and profiting from this initiative. “We believe that this will motivate more African entrepreneurs to initiate their own ePower containers in other off-grid communities,” says Yusuf.

The company is also in discussions with Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Nigeria to deploy the solution to these countries. In Nigeria, estimates are that about 96-million people are living off the grid, while an estimated 16-million people live off the grid in Mozambique.

Yusuf points out that the Namibian Department of Communications has expressed interest in the concept, which might include the addition of cellphone reception towers on top of the containers to provide last-mile connectivity for users in remote locations.

The company has also entered its innovations in the Zayed Future Energy Prize, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. “This yearly prestigious award focuses on achievements in renewable energy and sustainability that reflect impact and long-term vision,” Yusuf concludes.