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The solar powered HPS is a stand-alone electricity solution designed to provide lighting for people without access to electricity.
It consists of a solar panel, battery pack, an energy management module, LED (light emitting diode) lights and a cellphone charger.
It is meant to supply lighting to small homes and for cellphone charging.
In a statement, Econet Solar chief executive officer Mr Luc Tanoh said the commercial field trials were the next big step before full commercial service.
“We are now ready for commercial field trials with selected customers in Zimbabwe, which is our first commercial site,” he said.
He said the HPS was invented by Econet Wireless’ engineers in South Africa.
Mr Tanoh said until now his organisation had been running trials in South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal province, but now the team had begun to work on commercial field trials.
He described the Home Power Station as a “truly remarkable product that will change the lives of millions of people who have no access to the electricity grid”.
Econet Solar plans to roll out the service in every African country and intended to license other mobile network companies to use its technology.
This mechanism removes the requirement for high upfront costs which have until now prevented hundreds of millions of people across Africa benefiting from solar powered lighting systems in their home.
The Home Power Station uses a solar panel to charge a battery which provides power to four lights and a cellphone charger.
An official said the retail price for the system had not yet been set.
Online Reporter