Entrepreneurs form joint venture to boost renewable energy service

23rd September 2016

By: Donna Slater

Features Deputy Editor and Chief Photographer

  

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With over 600-million people in Africa living without electricity, four entrepreneurs have joined forces in an effort to reduce this volume of people without access to electricity with the formation of renewable-energy company ePower Holdings.

The entrepreneurs, ePower Holdings cofounder and spokesperson Tariq Yusuf, Brent Peterson, Rudi van der Westhuizen and Thlopie Motsepe, aim to develop the company into a supplier of “green renewable energy” to communities that are not connected to the electricity grid.

Yusuf says the company does not offer a product, but, instead, an off-grid solution that is manageable and self-sufficient – in the form of battery swap centres incorporated into 6 m and 12 m containers. Each container produces about 1.8 kW of solar power.

According to ePower Holdings, the 6 m container can accommodate 500 household battery swaps a day and the 12 m container can provide 1 000 household battery, swaps a day. The household battery is a 12 V battery, which comes with a light-emitting-diode lighting solution capable of lighting a small room. The battery is also capable of charging small appliances.

These containers also offer a series of complementary services, with electricity provision being the main feature, which ensures that the ePower model is self-sufficient in terms of supplying its own electricity. The containers also provide communities with 24-hour television viewing, an Internet café with 24/7 WiFi, as well as educational platforms.

Using the containers to charge batteries and cellphones generates enough income to employ about four people in each community who share the responsibility of ensuring the containers work efficiently, states ePower Holdings.

ePower Holdings has set its sights on the rest of Africa, planning to roll out 15 containers in several African countries by 2019 with entrepreneurs operating 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, adding that ePower Holdings was recently deployed in Zambia, and is in discussions about implementation in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Nigeria.

As a way of breaking into the international market, ePower Holdings recently entered the Zayed Future Energy Prize in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. This yearly award focuses on achievements in renewable energy and sustainability that reflect impact and long-term vision.

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

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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