Message-ID: <mailto:199506301346.GAA27294@igc3.igc.apc.org> Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 09:23:20 +0000 From: Solar Electric Light Fund <mailto:solarlectric@igc.apc.org> Subject: 2nd Try: SELF UPDATE 6/95 To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
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June 30, 1995
Dear Friend,
We are pleased to announce that the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) will now be NET-working by an e-mail distribution l st. We will be posting occasional updates and news releases FYI, such as the Activity Update which follows. If you woul like to joi n the SELF e-mail distribution list to receive periodic SELF updates, or if you would like to be taken off our distribut on list, please send a message to mailto:solarlectric@igc.apc.org.
For additional information on SELF, see updates on some of the energy and development-related conferences (for example, nergy.news, at.general, etc.), and our World Wide Web Homepage on the CREST server (http://solstice.crest.org/renewables self/index.h tml), where we will be posting and updating our brochure, articles, reports and photos.
Our most exciting new projects are in Vietnam, South Africa and India. We will soon publish detailed profiles of all ou country pilot projects. In addition, Brazil joins the list this year. Many of these pilot projects are becoming econo ically susta inable as we continue to help them grow into "national exemplar" programs. Financially viable grassroots solar service nterprises are being formed in the projects' wake.
SELF, a non-profit charitable and educational organization, will celebrate its 5th anniversary this year. In a short ti e we have been able to help catalyze a growing interest by developing countries in decentralized, low-cost solar power b showcasing solar photovoltaics for household electrification in rural areas.
SELF is located at 1734 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA.
Neville Williams President
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June 14, 1995
ACTIVITY UPDATE
CHINA The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) has completed Phase II of its solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Dingxi District, Gansu Province, China, and has launched Phase III in association with its affiliate, the Gansu Solar Electric Light Fund (G-SELF). G-SELF, an officially registered non-profit agency in Gansu, was formed in May 1993, to manage SELF-funded solar-electrification programs in Western China. SELF & G-SELF are now operating in 5 counties and 10 villages in Gansu. The 7-Counties PV Program is aimed at bringing solar lighting and power systems to 1000 households in 14 villages. Approximately 250 houses have been electrified thus far; another 120 families will receive solar home systems financed through loans from a revolving credit fund this year. Additionally, SELF's joint-venture with the Gansu PV Company, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, is manufacturing and selling 100 to 200 solar home systems each month, mostly to the Tibetan herders in Gansu. SELF is also working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a joint project with Beijing's Ministry of Agriculture that will promote solar electricity through rural energy offices in Western China. SELF's Robert Freling accompanied U.S. Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary on her visit to China in February promoting sustainable energy joint-ventures. VIETNAM SELF has completed its joint pilot project with the Vietnam Women's Union. Committed to the improvement of family life throughout Vietnam, the Women's Union represents 11 million members. The "Solar Project in Support of Rural Women" was managed by Marlene Brown, an electrical engineer and photovoltaics design and installation expert, who assisted the VWU to electrify 100 households and 5 community centers in two provinces in the Mekong Delta. An additional 30 households in the North will also be electrified through the program. Only 15% of the 72 million people in Vietnam currently have electricity. SELF is currently developing a solar services company in Vietnam in association with Vietnamese partners.
NEPAL In April 1994, SELF and its partner, The Centre For Renewable Energy, in Kathmandu, completed a 52-house "solar seed" project in Pulimarang, a mountain village near Annapurna. The Gurkha village is the country's first PV-powered community using stand-alone solar home systems. Users purchase their solar-electric units with loans from a revolving-credit fund managed by their village solar committee. This seed project was inaugurated by Nepal's Prime Minister and was featured on a Nepal Television special. It has led to the development of numerous other village PV electrification schemes, and has created a large demand for solar home systems from Nepal's 3 solar electric companies. Ninety percent of Nepal is without electricity.
SRI LANKA SELF has electrified over 300 houses and community centers in off-grid rural areas together with its two NGO partners, The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement and SOLANKA Associates. Additional homes are receiving solar lighting systems with assistance from revolving credit funds. A World Bank energy services loan will help fund solar electrification, based in part on SELF's financing models. Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne, President of Sarvodaya, has called for a national program to electrify one million houses by 2005. Since 1991, SELF has worked closely with Sri Lanka's PV systems manufacturer, Solar Power & Light, supplier of "Suntec" solar modules. SOLANKA, a Sri Lankan solar NGO which SELF helped launch, continues to expand its household solar electrification program in 3 villages, thanks to replenishment of the local revolving fund from user payments and the excellent managerial skills of Executive Director Priyantha Wijesooriya.
INDIA SELF launched it's Indian rural solar project, supported by Rockefeller Brothers Fund, in Karnataka State in October, 1994, forming a solar services company registered in Bangalore. The grass-roots enterprise, Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO), is marketing and installing solar home systems and solar water pumps in 3 rural areas, utilizing consumer financing from the Indian Renewable Energy Development Authority, the World Bank, the Global Environmental Facility, and the Malaprabha Grameena Bank, India's largest rural development bank. Harish Hande, SELF's Project Manager, is creating an "entrepreneurial model" for solar rural electrification in India, where over 100 million families have no regular electricity supply.
UGANDA SELF has undertaken a project in Uganda with Habitat for Humanity International (HHI). SELF Board member Paul Maycock traveled to Uganda and prepared a joint project with HHI in July 1994, and has recently returned to launch the project in June 1995. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, and aided by Energy Alternatives Africa in Nairobi, the pilot program with HHI will electrify 250 households, provide technical training to Habitat staff in Uganda, and help support a local Uganda solar electric company. The project is expected to expand to other Habitat program countries; HHI builds 10,000 houses a year worldwide, mostly in unelectrified rural areas.
TANZANIA The Maasai Tribe in Tanzania asked SELF several years ago to help them prepare and fund a solar project to provide solar powered lighting and telecommunications to serve their widely scattered pastoralists. This year SELF will sponsor a program of solar battery charging, solar lantern financing, and the upgrading of their existing solar lighting installations. With the help of SELF's Nairobi-based Associate Mark Hankins, SELF had previously trained 3 Maasai technicians in PV installation. Solar-powered radio telephones and FM radio broadcasts will enhance tribal communications among the far-flung Maasai threatened by land speculators and corrupt officials seeking to drive them off their ancestral homelands.
SOUTH AFRICA SELF has launched a "showcase" solar PV project in Kwazulu/Natal that can serve as a model for solar energy development as the new government seeks to bring electricity to all its people. The Government of South Africa, through its Ambassador, invited SELF to provide assistance with solar electrification to its twenty-two million people without electric power. The project will electrify 75 Zulu homes initially and set up a Zulu-owned "solar services" enterprise to serve an unelectrified community of 12,000 in the Valley of a Thousand Hills. The project is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, and is being cost-shared with the South African government's Dept. of Minerals and Energy Affairs' Energy for Development Directorate.
SOLOMON ISLANDS SELF has developed a small PV pilot project in a village on Guadalcanal in association with the Guadalcanal Rural Electrification Agency. The Government of the Solomons is keenly interested in seeing solar play a predominate role in rural electrification and is looking to SELF to light the way. Additional funding is being sought.
BRAZIL A project in northeast Brazil to electrify the homes of 200 farm families is currently in development and will be launched in 1995.
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As its worldwide activities expand, SELF continues to rely on a professional cadre of technical associates and in-country nationals, all highly educated, dedicated and indefatigable. Many are experienced photovoltaic engineers. In Washington, SELF works with The World Bank and other development agencies to promote the solar option as a global initiative. It's activities are supported by private foundations and other donors. In addition, SELF provides contract and consulting services to various government and international agencies.