Press Releases
Solar Electric Light Fund Receives Energy Institute Award for Best Community Initiative
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), today announced that it has received the Energy Institute's (EI) Community Initiative Award for its Solar Market Gardens (SMGs) drip irrigation systems in Benin.
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Solar Electric Light Fund Uses Solar Energy Systems to Improve Health Care Facilities in Thomonde, Haiti
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), today announced that a case study about its successful installation of 29 Killowatts of off-grid photovoltaic (PV) systems to provide electricity to the Thomonde hospital in Haiti is available online from Trojan Battery Company.
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Solar Electric Light Fund Presents Solar Energy Solutions for Agriculture, Food Security and Energy Poverty at "Energy for all"
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), today announced that its executive director, Robert Freling, will be at the “Energy for all: Financing access for the poor” conference to present the success of SELF’s Solar Market Gardens™ (SMG) in providing food security to the communities of Bessassi and Dunkassa in Benin, West Africa.
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Solar Electric Light Fund Committs to Expand Energy Access to World's Rural Poor
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), today made a commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All initiative to scale-up its “Whole Village” development model, an integrated approach to implementing solar energy systems that empower rural communities in developing countries to improve their health, education, economic development, and food and water security.
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Jonathan W. Postal Appointed to Solar Electric Light Fund Board of Directors
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) today announced the the appointment of Jonathan W. (J.W.) Postal to its board of directors. Mr. Postal is a founder of Main Street Power and currently serves as the company’s Senior Vice President of Business Development and Government Relations.
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Solar Energy Brings Light and Hope to Girls in Africa
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) today announced the successful installation of a centralized solar electric system to power the new Kisaruni Girls Secondary School and Baraka Health Center near the village of Bomete, Kenya. The school and clinic are operated by Free The Children.
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Solar Energy Brings Gift of Water, Health and Hope to Rural African Villages
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) today announced the successful installation of three Solar Water Wells (SWWs) in the villages of Bessassi and Dunkassa, Benin, West Africa. Each well will provide families in these communities with access to clean, safe drinking water year round.
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Grammy-Winning Reggae Group Steel Pulse Releases New Song for Haiti Charity
Partners In Health (PIH), The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) and Grammy-winning reggae band Steel Pulse today announced the release of Hold On [4 Haiti], a new song composed by lead singer David Hinds and recorded to raise funds for the solar electrification of health clinics for PIH in Haiti.
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SolarWorld Grants 100kW to Rebuild Haiti with Renewable Energy
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) has announced that SolarWorld has awarded SELF and in-kind grant of solar panels totaling 100 kilowatts to support the solar electrification of five health clinics for Partners In Health (PIH) in Haiti. The clinics, operated by Zanmi Lasante (ZL), are located in the remote mountain highlands of Haiti and do not have access to the electric grid.
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Solar Electric Light Fund Named a Winner in Ashoka's Changemakers Challenge
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) has been announced as one of three winners in the Women | Tools | Technology Challenge sponsored by Ashoka’s Changemakers and ExxonMobil in partnership with the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). Other winning entries were submitted by Bicycling Empowerment Network Namibia, Namibia, and Lua Nova Association, Brazil. The winners were selected from 268 project entries from 67 different countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
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Solar Electric Light Fund Selected as a Finalist in the Women l Tools l Technology Challenge
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) has been selected as a finalist in the Women l Tools l Technology Challenge sponsored by Ashoka's Changemakers and ExxonMobil in partnership with The International Center for Research on Women.
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11th Hour Supporter Grants 500K to Rebuild Haiti with Renewable Energy, 2010
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) announced that the 11th Hour Project of Palo Alto, Calif., has awarded SELF a $500,000 grant to support the solar electrification of seven health clinics for Partners In Health (PIH) in Haiti.
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Solar Supporter Cycles from Cairo to Capetown to Light Africa, 2010
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) today announced that Timothy Thomas of Kennett Square, PA., has embarked upon the grueling 7,375 mile Tour d' Afrique in his attempt to raise $100,000 for SELF's work bringing solar power to impoverished villages in Africa.
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Solar Electricity Powers the Fight Against Hunger in Rural African Villages, 2010
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) today announced the publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of the successful results SELF's Solar Market Garden (SMG) project in the drought-stricken region of Kalalé district of northern Benin, West Africa.
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Green Energy Systems Power Fight Against HIV/AIDS in Africa, 2009
The Solar Electric Light Fund completed the largest solar installation at a remote health clinic in Africa. The 10kW solar electric system provides 90 percent of the power for the new Village Health Works (VHW) clinic in Kigutu, Burundi, an unelectrified village 95 kilometers from the nation's capital.
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King Husssein Leadership Prize presented to Robert Freling of SELF, 2009
Her Majesty Queen Noor today presented the 2008 King Hussein
Leadership Prize to Robert A. Freling, executive director of the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), at the
Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Awards in Aspen, Colo. Each year the prize is awarded to an
individual, institution or group who has demonstrated exceptional humanitarian leadership in promoting
sustainable development, human rights, equity, and peace.
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SELF named a 2008 Tech Awards Laureate by the Tech Museum of Innovation , 2008
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a non-profit dedicated to helping rural communities in developing countries power a brighter
future through innovative uses of solar energy, was today named a 2008 Tech Awards Laureate,
one of 25 global innovators recognized each year for applying technology to benefit humanity and
spark global change. The Tech Awards, a signature program of The Tech Museum of Innovation, and presented by Applied Materials, Inc., selected SELF from among hundreds of nominations
representing 68 countries.
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SELF teams up with Partners In Health to power rural clinics in Lesotho, 2008
The Solar Electric Light Fund announces it will again team with Dr. Paul Farmer and Partners In Health, this time to bring the benefits of solar electricity to four rural health clinics in Lesotho, at Lebakeng, N'kau, Bobete, and Nohana. With solar power at work, AIDS treatment at these facilities can begin to shine.
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SELF teams up with Partners In Health to power rural clinics in Burundi, 2008
Working in tandem with Partners In Health, Burundi-based Village Health Works is striving to address this crisis in Kigutu, in extreme southern Burundi, through the construction of a modern health center that will ultimately serve 60,000 people who face endemic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The center’s electricity will be provided by a long-lasting solar power system powered by the Solar Electric Light Fund.
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SELF to providing consulting services to Make it Right project in New Orleans, 2008
In 2008, Brad Pitt convened a group of experts in New Orleans to launch the building of 150 green affordable housing units to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) is providing solar consulting services to help rebuild the Lower 9th ward.
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SELF bringing solar power to 44 villages in Benin's Kalalé district, 2007
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) along with the Association pour le Developpement Economique, Social et Culturel de Kalalé (ADESCKA) and other local partners have proposed to facilitate the solar electrification of all 44 agricultural villages in the Kalalé District, Borgou Department, Benin. The project addresses the development priority area of agricultural development, although it also supports health, education, general economic development and community infrastructure.
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SELF powers rural clinics in Rwanda, 2007
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) has taken up the challenge of solar electrification of Partners In Health’s (PIH) Rwandan health facilities. Established by Dr. Paul Farmer, Partners In Health is transforming healthcare for the world's poorest people.
We are also working with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, the Elisabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Initiative and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund on several other health projects in Rwanda.
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SELF Named A Finalist for the 2002 Tech Museum of Innovation Awards, 2002
The Tech Museum Awards honor innovators and visionaries from around the world who are applying technology to profoundly improve the human condition in the categories of education, equality, environment, health, and economic development. Individuals, for-profit companies, and not-for-profit organizations are eligible.
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Vietnam Women's Union Wins Prestigious Energy Globe Award, 2002
The Energy Globe Award honours outstanding initiatives in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources from all over the world. SELF is pleased to announce that our project partner, the Vietnam Women's Union, was awarded with the 2002 prize.
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SELF Brings Solar power and Satellite Internet Access to Brazilian Rainforest, 2002
In February 2002, SELF introduced solar power and satellite Internet access to the remote Xixuaú-Xipariná Ecological Reserve in the heart of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. The new system is designed to improve health, education, and economic opportunity for Caboclo Indians, and to strengthen scientific research in this fragile and important ecosystem.
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SELF Wins Global Green Environmental Award, 1998
The Green Cross Millennium Awards, established in 1996, recognize and herald those who embody the mission of "fostering a global value shift toward a sustainable future."
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SELF Board Member, Freeman Dyson, Honored with Prestigious Templeton Award, 1999
Recipients of the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion represent a brilliantly diverse spectrum of disciplines, personalities and spiritual backgrounds, yet they all share at least one thing in common: Each showed outstanding humanitarianism in their pursuits.
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A Solar Lighting Project Planned for the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, 2000
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