Tesla-backed startup launches microgrid powering 2 African villages

ZOLA Elec­tric, a Tes­la-backed com­pa­ny pro­vid­ing ener­gy to remote African vil­lages through solar and bat­ter­ies, has announced the deploy­ment of a new micro­grid sys­tem that is pow­er­ing 1,000 homes, schools, and busi­ness­es in two vil­lages in Rwanda.

We report­ed on ZOLA Elec­tric back in 2015 when it was still called Off Grid Electric.

At the time, it was a Tan­za­nia-based start­up offer­ing solar pow­er and ener­gy stor­age as a ser­vice to rur­al regions of Africa.

It got on our radar when SolarCi­ty led two ear­ly rounds of financ­ing of $16 mil­lion and $25 mil­lion for the com­pa­ny along­side a Tes­la investor, DBL Part­ners, and SolarCity’s CEO at the time, Lyn­don Rive, joined the company’s board.

To read the full arti­cle, please vis­it: Elec­trek