Solar Electric Light Fund

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) is a non-profit organization set up to promote, develop, and facilitate solar rural electrification and energy self-sufficiency in rural areas, especially in developing countries. Founded in 1990, it has completed projects in several countries, including India, Tanzania, Brazil, and the Navajo Nation in the rural United States.

[edit] SELF Projects

SELF specialises in sponsoring solar power projects that can improve lives in developing countries, reaching beyond home electrification to village enterprises such as solar-powered health clinics, schools, and micro-enterprises. SELF spearheaded a project to bring reliable, sustainable, and clean solar electricity to provide light, run computers, and power a water pump for a tree farm and a refrigerator for storing precious research samples, vaccines, and snake anti-venom at the Jane Goodall Institute on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania. SELF is actively involved in rural electrification in the Jigawa State of Nigeria.SELF is actively involved in small scale solar power installation projects in India. Gaden Jangtse Tibetan Monastery, Karnataka, India was electrified with SELF help. In October 2003, the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) helped to advance improved living conditions and environmental conservation by working with local partners to bring clean, reliable solar energy to 151 Phobjikha homes, in Bhutan. It also funded the local community health clinic, and the education center of the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature. SELF projects at Xixuaú-Xipariná Ecological Reserve, Brazil are helping power a clinic and also protecting the environment & indigenous culture. In Kalalé, Benin SELF is involved in electrifying an entire district.^[1]