SELF To Provide 800 PV Systems to China

Solar Electric Light Fund (mailto:solarlectric@IGC.APC.ORG)
Fri, 12 Jan 1996 09:58:30 +0000 

Message-ID:  <199601121455.GAA15610@igc3.igc.apc.org>
Date:         Fri, 12 Jan 1996 09:58:30 +0000
From: Solar Electric Light Fund <mailto:solarlectric@IGC.APC.ORG>
Subject:      SELF To Provide 800 PV Systems to China
To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>


 NEWS RELEASE: Solar Electric Light Fund Is Contracted  To Provide
800 Home PV Systems to China


January 9, 1996 - The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a non-profit
organization based in Washington, D.C. that promotes photovoltaic
(PV) rural electrification in developing countries, was recently
awarded a contract by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL), Golden, CO, to supply 800 solar electric home lighting
systems to farmers and herdsmen in Gansu Province, China.


This NREL-supported project will build upon the already-existing
1000-House PV rural electrification program in Gansu initiated by
SELF in 1993. It is being carried out as part of a larger protocol
agreement signed last year between the U.S. Department of Energy and
the Chinese State Council on Science and Technology to cooperate on
a range of renewable energy endeavors.   Funds for both hardware and
project management will be cost-shared by NREL and the Chinese
government.


Photovoltaic modules and batteries for the project will be provided
by U.S. manufacturers; BOS components will be supplied by the Gansu
PV Company and other local PV system integrators. Solar Home Systems
will be installed in farming villages, where they will be paid for
over a period of several years, and portable PV lighting systems
will be sold on a cash basis to Tibetan herdsmen living in the
southern region of Gansu Province.


SELF will jointly implement the project  together with Gansu Solar
Electric Light Fund (G-SELF), which was set up in 1993 as an
independent NGO affiliate of SELF to carry out solar rural
electrification programs in Gansu.  Having already managed Solar
Home System revolving funds in China through its Gansu affiliate,
SELF is well-prepared to assist this NREL-supported project in
achieving a high-degree of economic sustainability and further
expanding the solar PV market in Western China.


For further information, contact Robert Freling, SELF's Director of
International Programs.  Tel: (202) 234-7265; Fax: (202) 328-9512;
Internet: mailto:solarlectric@self.org


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