An island 6500 kilometres from the West Coast of the United States is almost fully sustainable for solar

WHILE its luscious landscape and pristine ocean views make for a picturesque location, it's the island’s innovation that is turning heads.

This island is nearly 100 per cent powered with solar energy. Picture: Solarcity

NESTLED 6500km from the West Coast of the United States is a small island known as Ta’u.

While its luscious landscape and pristine ocean views make for a picturesque location, it's the island’s innovation that is turning heads.

For the longest time, residents had struggled with the challenges associated with living in such a remote location.

Local resident and food store owner Keith Ahsoon said of all the issues faced on the island, affordable, reliable power was the most troubling.

“I recall a time they weren’t able to get the boat out here for two months,” he told SolarCity.

“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.”

These concerns are now set to become a thing of the past, with the island host to a solar power and battery storage-enabled microgrid, which is capable of supplying nearly 100 per cent of the electricity needs of the island.

The microgrid is enabled by 60 Tesla Powerpacks, has 1.4 megawatts of solar generation capacity and 6 megawatt hours of battery storage.

With 5328 individual solar panels, the entire island can have solar energy for three days, with the system fully recharging after seven hours of sunlight.

Mr Ahsoon said moving to renewable energy was a cost-saving alternative to diesel and removed the hazards of power intermittency to the 600 residents on Ta’u.

SolarCity images. Picture: Solarcity

“It’s always sunny out here, and harvesting that energy from the sun will make me sleep a lot more comfortably at night, just knowing I’ll be able to serve my customers,” he said.
Funded by the American Samoa Economic Development Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Interior, the investment is expected to offset the use of more than 414,500 litres of diesel per year.

Mr Ashoon said he was happy to be part of history.

“This project will help lessen the carbon footprint of the world. Living on an island, you experience global warming first-hand,” he said.

“Beach erosions and other noticeable changes are a part of life here. It’s a serious problem, and this project will hopefully set a good example for everyone else to follow.”

Tesla recently acquired SolarCity in a deal worth roughly $2 billion.

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