Microgrid
ProjectsSubmit a project

Home / Directory / Ta’u SolarCity Tesla Microgrid in American Samoa

Oceania & Pacific / Commercial & demonstration

Ta’u SolarCity Tesla Microgrid in American Samoa

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations8
System facts21
Sources reviewed13
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Ta'u's 2016 project is a 1.4 MW solar photovoltaic array paired with 6 MWh of Tesla Powerpack storage on the American Samoa Power Authority's isolated Manu'a grid. SolarCity delivered the solar/EPC scope before its acquisition by Tesla, Tesla supplied 60 Powerpacks, and ASPA owns and operates the utility system. Federal and territorial sources continue to describe the solar-battery plant as supplying all or essentially all of Ta'u's electricity and displacing more than 100,000 gallons of diesel per year, but newer ASPA records also establish that the site remains a solar-diesel hybrid and added three 500 kW Cummins generator sets. '100% solar' should therefore describe the reported normal annual-energy outcome, not the absence of installed diesel backup.

Research status
The solar-battery system was commissioned in November 2016, and NREL's 2024 baseline plus EIA's current territory profile continue to cite it as supplying 100% of Ta'u electricity. ASPA's fiscal-2024 audit reports three new 500 kW Cummins generators installed and commissioned at the Falesa'o Ta'u Power Plant, while its fiscal-2025 audit calls the leased-site installation a solar-and-diesel hybrid. This does not disprove high renewable-energy operation, but it materially qualifies the original marketing. No public Ta'u-specific 2025/26 hourly generation, fuel burn, battery capacity test, availability, or curtailment dataset was located.
Historical classification
Commercial
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
-14.22564, -169.43663
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Ta’u SolarCity Tesla Microgrid in American Samoa?

8 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

American Samoa Economic Development Authority

Project funding participant identified in commissioning coverage. [9]

Organization

American Samoa Power Authority (ASPA)

Territorial utility, project owner/operator, and operator of the Ta'u hybrid power plant and distribution system; later installed three 500 kW diesel generator sets. [10][9][7][8]

Organization

Cummins

Manufacturer of the three 500 kW diesel generator sets ASPA reports commissioning in fiscal 2024. [7]

Organization

SolarCity

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

SolarCity Corporation

Solar developer/EPC that built the array and integrated the project before/around its 2016 acquisition by Tesla. [9][11]

Organization

Tesla

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Tesla, Inc.

Supplier/integrator of 60 Powerpack battery units and associated storage controls; later published performance and avoided-fuel claims. [4][9]

Organization

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency / U.S. Department of the Interior

Federal funding participants identified for the solar-storage project. [9]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
1400 [1]
Storage
6 MWH [1]
Solar photovoltaic capacity
1.4 MW from 5,328 modules. Public sources do not provide a dependable module manufacturer/model, DC/AC ratio, degradation result, or current inverter-limited AC rating. [13][4][5][10]
Battery storage
6 MWh from 60 Tesla Powerpacks, implying 100 kWh nominal per unit in the commissioned configuration. No public 2026 capacity-retention or usable-energy test was found. [4][5][9]
Autonomy and recharge claim
Commissioning material said the battery could sustain the island for about three days without sunlight and recharge fully in roughly seven hours. These are vendor/project claims, not a current guaranteed autonomy rating. [4][11]
Diesel backup
Three Cummins generator sets rated 500 kW each (1.5 MW aggregate) were installed and commissioned at Falesa'o in fiscal 2024. ASPA's audit does not disclose the exact set model, fuel-consumption curve, or runtime. [7]
Avoided diesel
Tesla, NREL, and EIA use approximately 100,000 to 109,500 gallons per year as the displacement figure. It is a recurring project/agency estimate; no current island fuel ledger was located to audit it. [4][5][6]
Renewable-energy share
NREL and EIA describe the system as supplying 100% of Ta'u electricity. Because ASPA simultaneously maintains diesel capacity and describes a hybrid system, this should be read as normal or annual-energy supply rather than a claim that diesel equipment is absent or never runs. [5][6][8]
Host community
Contemporary accounts variously cite roughly 600 residents and about 900 people served. The sources use different population/service denominators, so neither value should be treated as an exact current customer count. [11][10]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Battery energy storage

Tesla — Powerpack

Sixty units totaling 6 MWh, plus Tesla power-conversion/control equipment. Public commissioning sources do not identify a more precise Powerpack hardware revision. [4][9]

02

Photovoltaic array

Model not publicly disclosed

5,328 solar modules totaling 1.4 MW, delivered by SolarCity. Accessible sources do not support a panel or inverter manufacturer/model attribution. [10][11]

03

Diesel generator sets

Cummins

Three 500 kW units commissioned by ASPA in fiscal 2024. Model, voltage, and emissions tier were not specified in the audit. [7]

04

Microgrid control

Model not publicly disclosed

Solar-storage dispatch and island-grid controls integrate the PV array, Powerpacks, ASPA distribution, and diesel backup. No supportable public controller model or current software version was found. [4][8]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Storage

    6 megawatt hours of battery storage from 60 Tesla Powerpacks [1]

  • Generation

    1.4 megawatts of solar generation capacity from SolarCity and Tesla [1]

  • Operating architecture

    PV serves load and charges Powerpacks during solar hours; storage shifts energy into evening and cloudy periods and stabilizes the isolated grid. Diesel generators provide firm backup and resilience, even though published summaries characterize normal energy supply as fully solar. [4][5][7]

  • Fuel-logistics benefit

    The installation reduced dependence on seaborne diesel deliveries and the outages or rationing that could follow delayed shipments. This remote-island logistics benefit is separate from the exact, unaudited gallons-per-year claim. [11][6]

  • Diesel qualification

    ASPA's 2024 generator procurement and its 2025 description of a 'solar and diesel hybrid system' are authoritative evidence that Ta'u is not physically solar-only. The newer generators may be backup/contingency assets; the audits do not report their annual runtime. [7][8]

  • Site tenure

    ASPA's fiscal-2025 audit identifies three land leases dating from October 2015 for the solar-and-diesel hybrid system, with terms running through September 30, 2045. [8]

  • Local implementation

    Contemporary local reporting says SolarCity employed and trained approximately 15 local workers to help construct the array, an important implementation detail but not a continuing staffing count. [12]

  • Current-data gap

    No public Ta'u-specific series was found for hourly renewable share, annual diesel runtime and fuel, battery state of health, forced outages, replacement modules, or 2025/26 energy served. Current agency summaries substantiate continued relevance, but not component-level performance. [5][6][7]

Provenance

13 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  2. [2]
    Postcard From the Future? Ta’u Island Ditches Diesel With Tesla-SolarCity Microgrid

    microgridmedia.com · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  3. [3]
    Island in the Sun

    blog.solarcity.com · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  4. [4]
    2018 Tesla Impact Report

    Tesla, Inc. · Primary source

  5. [5]
    American Samoa 2023 Energy Baseline Report

    National Renewable Energy Laboratory · Primary source

  6. [6]
    American Samoa Territory Energy Profile

    U.S. Energy Information Administration · Primary source

  7. [7]
  8. [8]
  9. [9]
  10. [10]
  11. [11]
  12. [12]
  13. [13]
    Ta'u SolarCity/Tesla Microgrid - archived legacy record

    Microgrid Projects via Internet Archive · Archived source

Continue exploring

Related projects in Oceania & Pacific