Before solar, Adedoyin’s evenings often ended in the dark. Her phone and laptop went to her mother’s house to charge, and she planned her days around power outages. A 500W itel PowerTank changed all of that. Here’s her story.

When Adedoyin bought her 500W itel PowerTank, she mostly wanted a simple way to keep her TV, phone and laptop running through a power outage, especially on evenings when she wanted to catch up on her favourite programmes after a long day. She also could not stand the sound of a generator, so a quiet backup suited her perfectly.

Nearly a year on, it does far more than she expected, and she won’t stop recommending it. When there is a power failure in her area, her neighbours already know one thing: she will still have light.

If the whole area does not have light, they know I will have light.

Life before solar: evenings in the dark

Adedoyin’s area has fairly regular power, but the schedule shifts without warning, and the evenings, from around 4pm to 10pm, were often dark, right when she wanted to unwind in front of the TV. Reaching for the generator wasn’t an option she enjoyed; the noise didn’t suit her compound, so she rarely turned it on.

So she managed. When her phone or laptop ran low and there was no light, she carried them to her mother’s house nearby to charge. It worked, but her days bent around the electricity supply instead of the other way round. The evenings she most wanted for herself, to rest and watch her programmes, were the ones most likely to be spent in the dark.

Life now: peace of mind, and freedom to move

Now, those little things are simply settled. She watches her programmes in the evening without a second thought, charges her phone whenever she likes, and no longer carries her laptop to a mother’s house, where she used to worry the whole time that a child might step on it and leave her with an unplanned repair bill.

It has changed how she works, too. As a remote worker, a low laptop battery used to mean rushing through emails or hoping the power would return before her next meeting. Now, even when she has a low battery, she stays calm, because she knows the PowerTank will keep her laptop going.

And because it is portable, she deliberately chose not to mount it. It travels with her, to functions and on trips. Last month, with a low battery and somewhere to be, she simply took it along.

I put it in the car, and I was charging and working. Before, I would have said, ‘let us go back home, I have to charge my laptop.’ I don’t do that anymore.

She now brings her own power wherever she goes, and the people around her can charge too. Asked to sum up the best thing about reliable power, her answer is simple: peace of mind.

Is solar worth it? Her honest answer

Adedoyin’s answer comes down to what fuel actually costs, in money and in hassle. She still remembers one outage when she was sent to buy petrol twice in a single morning, paying 900 naira each time. Fuel isn’t only expensive; it isn’t guaranteed. You can reach the filling station and find none, and start the search all over again. Solar removes that scramble. Her one caveat is honest: it costs money upfront.

I know it’s expensive, but if you can find a place like SunFi that lets you pay in installments, it’s something you should try.

The clearest proof, for her, is a friend she passed the idea on to, a clothes-maker who used to spend about ₦6,000 on fuel every single day, Monday to Saturday, and still had to close early once darkness fell. With a PowerTank, that friend now opens at 7am and works until 10pm, running her lights and small work devices without buying fuel, and keeping a little backup only for rainy days when the sun is weak. She told Adedoyin she was grateful she had seen the idea when she did.

Adedoyin runs a 500W PowerTank, which suits everyday essentials like a TV, phone, laptop, lights and a fan. The right fit depends on what you need to keep on, and how you work, because heavier appliances need a larger system.

If reliable power for your day is what you are after, our guide on staying productive as a remote worker is a good place to start, and you can compare systems on SunFi’s Sweet Deals page.

Still not sure how to start? Chat with a SunFi representative, or call 02018871099