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Vanuatu testing power cubes made in Aargau

Lelepa, one of the islands that makes up the island nation of Vanuatu, is currently testing an energy storage solution developed by the Aargau-based firm Power-Blox. This uses smart power cubes that allow small power networks to be constructed in places without an energy supply.Lelepa

Lelepa
Lelepa. Image Credit: Philipp Capper/Wikimedia Commons

Photovoltaics is revolutionizing energy supply in regions where the sun may well often shine but are not connected to a power grid. The prerequisite for this: there must be a way of storing energy. Power-Blox , which is based in Frick AG, has developed a solution to meet precisely this requirement. It has launched a power cube on the market that features an integrated battery storage solution that can be charged via solar modules. A modular construction allows several cubes to be used together, in this way producing an alternating current supply in the megawatt area.

Power-Blox’s solution is currently being tested on Lelepa, an island that makes up the island nation of Vanuatu situated in the south west Pacific. A press release explains how Power-Blox is conducting a pilot project on the island in conjunction with the local authorities and the development program of the United Nations. During the initial phase of the pilot project, five community buildings have been powered by power cubes, each with a storage capacity of 200 watt. In this way, sewing machines in a local tailor shop are already being supplied with power by the cubes. The islanders are now hoping that printers in the school and refrigerators can also soon be connected to the power supply.

“Our challenge is to electrify communities where households are far from each other. It seems that the power blox can be a solution to this, and we are waiting to see if we can scale this innovative solar-powered approach across other islands of Vanuatu,” comments Antony Garae Liu, Director of the Department of Energy at the Ministry of Climate Change in Vanuatu.

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