In pursuit of building synergies in energy technology, Distributed Power Africa (DPA), an Econet Global company, is partnering with Huawei Technologies to transform African communities through smart batteries and solar.

This collaboration will culminate in the offering of the Huawei Smart Energy Fusion product to be used in hybrid solar solutions for the African market.

In a statement, DPA says the partnership will expand the company’s product offering by providing improved storage, and will accelerate the uptake of its retail power offer of reliable, cost-effective energy for residential as well as small and medium businesses.

According to the Econet unit, the Huawei Smart Energy Fusion product will initially be rolled out in selected DPA markets, namely Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa and Kenya.

It notes the supply of energy plus storage is fast becoming of high importance, especially in countries where unstable grid conditions exist.

Huawei is offering DPA a solution that ensures up to 30% more energy, a stable power supply and financial saving for end-users, the Econet subsidiary says.

DPA notes that given the “new normal” brought on by the pandemic, there is now an increased requirement from home offices for a reliable power service to support digital communication.

“We are always looking to work with innovative partners like Huawei to bring smart systems and deliver best fit energy solutions to meet the energy needs in our markets,” says DPA CEO Norman Moyo.

He points out that renewable energy technology such as this is a step towards fully-functional communities being built off-grid.

With the Huawei Smart Energy Fusion product, DPA will be able to increase power capacity for customers wanting to scale up.

The product is designed with string battery technology that is modular, and is scalable from 5kW to 30kW on every stack, giving customers flexible investment.

According to the company, it can be installed with or without solar panels and connected to either grid or generator to supply optimum power.

The technology comes with artificial intelligence-powered active protection to safeguard the system against electrical faults with an in-built app to give users a better experience.

DPA says it will offer the product with its custom energy solutions on flexible financing terms.