TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Analysis | Rain muddies the waters with approach to Telkom

      11 August 2022

      Rain wants to merge with Telkom: asks to pitch proposal to board

      11 August 2022

      Rain lashed by Takeover Regulation Panel over Telkom statement

      11 August 2022

      Largest SA telecoms operators launch new industry association

      11 August 2022

      MTN shares climb on robust Nigeria, SA performance

      11 August 2022
    • World

      Gaming industry’s fortunes fade as pandemic ends

      11 August 2022

      Disney tops Netflix in streaming subscribers

      11 August 2022

      Jumia says it’s past peak losses, shares jump

      10 August 2022

      Elon Musk sells $6.9-billion of Tesla to avoid Twitter fire sale

      10 August 2022

      Nvidia issues profit warning on slump in demand for graphics cards

      8 August 2022
    • In-depth

      African unicorn Flutterwave battles fires on multiple fronts

      11 August 2022

      The length of Earth’s days has been increasing – and no one knows why

      7 August 2022

      As Facebook fades, the Mad Men of advertising stage a comeback

      2 August 2022

      Crypto breaks the rules. That’s the point

      27 July 2022

      E-mail scams are getting chillingly personal

      17 July 2022
    • Podcasts

      Qush on infosec: why prevention is always better than cure

      11 August 2022

      e4’s Adri Führi on encouraging more women into tech careers

      10 August 2022

      How South Africa can woo more women into tech

      4 August 2022

      Book and check-in via WhatsApp? FlySafair is on it

      28 July 2022

      Interview: Why Dell’s next-gen PowerEdge servers change the game

      28 July 2022
    • Opinion

      SIU seeks to set aside R215-million IT tender

      19 July 2022

      No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

      11 July 2022

      Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

      8 July 2022

      South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

      4 July 2022

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Econet to launch prepaid home ‘power station’

    Econet to launch prepaid home ‘power station’

    News By Editor7 December 2011
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Strive Masiyiwa (image credit: World Economic Forum)

    Econet Solar, a subsidiary of African mobile phone operator Econet Wireless, has launched a prepaid solar-powered home power station that it believes could have a meaningful impact on people’s lives on a continent where an estimated 70% of people not have access to a reliable supply of electricity.

    The company will begin trialling the first-generation of a new product that provides lighting and the ability to charge cellphones using the same systems and in the same way airtime is purchased for mobile phones.

    Econet says this will remove the requirement for consumers to incur high up-front costs, which prevent hundreds of millions of people in Africa from benefiting from solar-powered systems in their homes.

    The “Home Power Station” uses a solar panel to charge a battery, which then provides power for four lights and a cellphone charger, the company says. Future generations of the product will serve homes of all sizes as the business model is “fully scalable”.

    Econet Solar has developed a patented power-control module linking the Home Power Station to the cellphone network. It will begin trials of the product in several countries in the next few weeks and expects it to be available commercially in the first half of 2012.

    Econet Solar's Home Power Station

    “The Home Power Station will be available at a small upfront cost, with customers paying for the electricity generated as they use it,” the company says. “Econet Solar will work closely with Econet Wireless to make the Home Power Station available to its millions of cellphone customers in Africa. In time, Econet Solar will seek to establish licensing agreements with other mobile network operators in developing countries to make the product available to their respective customer bases.”

    Econet Wireless founder and chairman Strive Masiyiwa says more than 500m people in Africa are living in areas where there is no access to a reliable source of power. “If we are to improve the lives and prospects of Africans living beyond the reach of the grid, it is important that we find practical and sustainable solutions to meet their needs.

    “Though there are already well-intentioned solar powered lighting systems on the market, the reality is that they are just too expensive for people to afford. We are launching the Home Power Station to change all that,” Masiyiwa says.

    The solar power station includes four LED lights, a controller, a battery, a solar panel, cabling and a cellphone charger. It has been designed to light up to four rooms of 3mx3m each for a period of up to five hours a day. The photovoltaic solar panel replenishes one day’s usage in half a day’s sunshine. The battery has a design life of five years.

    It also displays the battery condition, charge status, when energy levels are low, when battery power is low, when credit balance is running low and the GSM communication status.

    The Home Power Station includes a Sim card that allows the device to communicate with the cellular network, which consumers can then use to top up their accounts.  — Staff reporter, TechCentral

    • Subscribe to our free daily newsletter
    • Follow us on Twitter or on Google+ or on Facebook
    • Visit our sister website, SportsCentral (still in beta)
    Econet Econet Solar Econet Wireless Strive Masiyiwa
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleYahoo lands in SA – but why?
    Next Article A hard last mile

    Related Posts

    Analysis | Rain muddies the waters with approach to Telkom

    11 August 2022

    Rain wants to merge with Telkom: asks to pitch proposal to board

    11 August 2022

    Rain lashed by Takeover Regulation Panel over Telkom statement

    11 August 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Pricing Beyond CMYK: printers answer the FAQs

    11 August 2022

    How secure is your cloud?

    10 August 2022

    5 ways to make attack-path management more manageable

    10 August 2022
    Opinion

    SIU seeks to set aside R215-million IT tender

    19 July 2022

    No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

    11 July 2022

    Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

    8 July 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.