On November 11, Eloncity team met a special group in Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Background
This is a 100% offgrid community of retired Americans, to enjoy sunshine, beach, seafood, surfing, and fishing for the rest of their lives. More than 150 houses (the number is growing fastly now) are distributed along Mexico Bay.
Life is so short— it shall never be annoyed by the heat nor any inconvenience from energy insufficiency. While the fact is, most of them migrant between Mexico and the United States, since the summer in Baja California is too hot to stay without air conditioning.
However, in this “paradise”, the basis of living — water and electricity, is far more expensive and never easily accessible for most people.
Take energy for example, in earlier days back to 2017, people had to drive at least half an hour to buy gasoline to feed their generators, usually once or twice a week.
Now, more and more people are looking to options which are less noisy, much greener and worry-free. With more solar energy systems (with some energy storage included) installed inside the community, some issues arise:
How can I find the most suitable system under a reasonable budget?
How long life span can we expect for devices running in a salted area?
How can I get support in such a remote place (all roads to the community are unpaved through a vast desert)?
Is it possible to get fresh water in a more affordable way?
……
The Event
We have been focusing on this area for more than 2 years. One house owner here, Doctor Andy, became the 1st iCAN NetZero user in early 2019, and this became the milestone. After using the system flawlessly for more than 6 months, he then recommended it to his neighbors, and we were invited to design and install the solar + battery +AC systems for its community center; moreover, the community board decided to promote the system to all the community members, by having a public presentation.
The installation was completed 3 days before the event. All attendees felt the cool air as they walked in, and many of them checked the system before the presentation.
In the short speech, Eloncity founder, Mr. Andy Li, explained how affordable energy could be, how we could help them get drinkable water by desalination, and how we would support the area with a vision to build an Eloncity model that is fully self-sufficient and mutual supporting in natural resources.
System information
380wp Risen panel * 36
10KVA (5KVA*2) 120V/240V iCAN NetZero
Battery capacity: 32kWh, upgradable to 55.2kWh
24000 BTU air conditioning *3
Why is this community an ideal model of Eloncity?
This community is fully offgrid;
The size is perfect;
It’s duplicable;
Residents are willing to go solar and get energy independent.
We are moving forward to build this model by more education and orders fulfillment.
Party time
