Message-ID: <mailto:01HSE45KW2NO0028NA@menvax.restena.lu> Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 10:30:00 MET From: Philippe NOVEL +352 4300-1 <mailto:PNOVEL@RESTENA.LU> Subject: Re: 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,
>
pleased to announce that the So tric Light Fund (SELF) will now be NET-working by an e-mail distribution list. We will be postin onal updates and news releases F as the Activity Update which follows. If you would like to joi LF e-mail distribution list to r eriodic SELF updates, or if you would like to be taken off our distribution list, please send a mes mailto:solarlectric@igc.apc.org.¶
ditional information on SELF, se s on some of the energy and deve related conferences (for example, energy.news, at.general, etc.), and our World Wide Web Homepage on the CREST http://solstice.crest.org/renewables/self/index.h ochure, articles, reports and ph
st exciting new projects are in South Africa and India. We will soon publish detailed profiles of all our country pilot projects. In a Brazil joins the list this year. Many of these pilot projects are becoming economically susta
e continue to help them grow into "national exemplar" programs. Financially viable grassroots solar service
ises 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
ime we have been able to help catalyze a growing interest by developing countries in decentralized, low-cost solar power
by showcasing
> solar photovoltaics for household electrification in rural areas.
>
> SELF is located at 1734 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA.
>
> Neville Williams
> President
>
> ************************************************************
>
>
> 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.
>
> * * * * *
>
> 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.