Tesla is turning Kauai into a renewable energy paradise.

After being struck by a motorboat in a canoe accident Luke Evslin realised how devastating it would be to die and leave behind such a beautiful world. Evslin started to vision a self-sufficient life, free from the consumption of modern society and alternatively - be in touch with nature.

Along with his fiancee Evslin built an off-grid yurt powered by solar panels and batteries, their goal was to live self-sufficiently – using their own energy, eating their own home-grown food and eliminating their carbon mark.

In 2008 a goal was set by a member-owned electricity cooperative to run the entire island on 50% renewable energy by 2023, in 2016 this target was met. In February 2017 a new goal was set to run the island on 70% renewable energy by 2030.  At noon on Kauai’s hottest days so much energy is generated that solar power often goes unused. In March this year Tesla installed a pioneering grid-scale battery with the ability to power 4,500 homes for four hours, made up of 50,000 solar panels and 272 batteries as a result Kauai expects to meet it’s 2030 goal in advance once again, in 2025, 5 years earlier than the target.