The co-founders of SolarCity have resurfaced on the global stage and they have a new pet project that also happens to be powered by the sun. Brothers Lyndon and Peter Rive, who are also cousins to Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, were brought into the fold at the rapidly growing solar-plus-storage company ZOLA Electric.
Companies are bringing alternative energy business models to deliver “personal power” to energy-poor communities. These models often rely on PV solar as the core technology, coupled with innovative financing models, and often use cellular infrastructure, which is often fairly well-developed and accepted.
Originally published on Solar Love. We often report on enormous new solar power installations, facilities that generate megawatts of power. But solar can also bring important benefits to people even if it is just a few watts at a time. The inspiration to bring solar power to Africans who live … [continued]
Originally published on Sustainnovate. Off Grid Electric is one of many small businesses bringing solar power and LED lighting to the developing world, but it has some unique approaches and advantages that I think helped it to win this year’s Zayed Future Energy Prize in the SME category. It also … [continued]
Originally published on Sustainnovate. (Note: the videos are HD, so if you don’t have a fast internet connection, you may need to let them load for a second to focus.) As I’ve stated several times before, the Zayed Future Energy Prize is like the Academy Awards of cleantech. Each year, a large … [continued]
Off Grid Electric recently announced $45 million in debt financing for distributed solar and battery storage in Africa. The organization is installing over 10,000 solar power systems in homes and businesses per month. F. Xavier Helgesen is the CEO and one of the co-founders, and he answered some questions for CleanTechnica about the … [continued]
Originally published on Sustainnovate. Off Grid Electric is a leading small business advancing clean energy in the developing world. It has created a distributed solar power model and currently provides services in Tanzania and Rwanda. Many people in these countries don’t have enough money to buy solar power systems, so … [continued]
Originally published on Solar Love. A funding round of $25 million was recently raised by Off-Grid Electric to grow its African micro-solar leasing efforts. The majority of the funds came from DBL Partners, though other investors included SolarCity, Western Technology Investment, Omidyar Network, Serious Change LP, and Vulcan Capital. Off-Grid’s new funding will … [continued]
Originally published on Solar Love. Power for All is a global campaign dedicated to promoting the fastest, most cost-effective, and most sustainable approach to universal energy access. It was first introduced at the United Nation’s Sustainable Energy For All forum in New York on May 21, 2015, reports TreeHugger. ”We shouldn’t have to … [continued]
The Tanzanian government has announced an initiative to get solar power to one million homes by the end of 2017. It is expected that achieving this goal will also create about 15,000 solar jobs and create solar power for about 10% of Tanzania’s population. About 80% of Tanzania’s citizens currently … [continued]
