Over the past six months, our Core Partners have shown courage, resilience, and ingenuity in unprecedented times. Through it all, they’re still focused on what’s important: people and the planet. Here are a few updates from their solar energy projects around the world.
MAIA
At the MAIA Impact School, young indigenous women, known as Girl Pioneers, train to be the next generation of doctors, lawyers, and solar energy leaders. The Impact School serves 40 remote villages around Sololá, Guatemala.
We’re excited to share that MAIA has completed installation on their rooftop solar array, which will soon power the entire school! Panels are installed on an easily accessible rooftop terrace; once COVID restrictions are lifted, MAIA will teach Girl Pioneers, their parents, and the MAIA staff how solar power works, why sustainable energy is important, and how to install solar power in their own homes. By the end of 2021, MAIA expects to offer solar tours to students, families, and community members.
The Comcaac, also known as the Seri Indians, are an indigenous people living in coastal desert mountains near the Gulf of California in Northern Mexico. For years, Borderlands Restoration Network has worked with the Comcaac to create intergenerational apprenticeship programs that unite the Seri community’s traditional ecological knowledge with modern science.
The Honnold Foundation partnered with Borderlands Restoration Network to install a solar water pump system for the town of Desemboque. We’re excited to share that all solar installations for this project are complete! 30 solar panels and a freshly installed network of water pumps and interconnected pipes now ensure water security for 250 people. Soon, these pipes will be connected to an auto-regulated irrigation system, creating a reliable, sustainable local garden owned and operated by the community.
As the coal industry contracts and requires fewer skilled workers, communities throughout Appalachia are struggling. In response, Coalfield Development and the Honnold Foundation are bringing a large-scale solar array to Coalfield’s Community Hub and creating a solar energy job training program for former coal miners.
“Our team has been through the proverbial roller coaster of COVID-19 and are still standing together, determined to bring this solar project to fruition,” says Jacob Hannah, Conservation Coordinator at Coalfield Development. In the coming weeks, a subcontractor will reinforce the Community Hub’s roof, making way for a solar installation team to finish Coalfield’s solar array. Once safe, Coalfield will launch their solar job training workshops and community education programs early next year.
Over one million people live in floating villages on Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake. The Lake Clinic Cambodia (TLC) provides medical care and health education at no cost to eight of these floating villages. TLC’s solar-powered boats, also known as floating clinics, bring essential medical services directly to communities. Families earn an average of 2.50 a day, but travel to a clinic in the city can cost as much as $50 in diesel fuel. Without TLC’s support, most residents would have lack access to any healthcare.
Previously, old, underpowered solar systems weren’t providing consistent or reliable power to important medical devices, limiting the number of people TLC could serve and causing frustrating power outages for their clinicians. With HF’s support, TLC has doubled the solar capacity of four of their floating clinics.
From July to September, TLC’s teams treated 5,544 people. Their services included prenatal care for 109 women, 495 vaccinations, 86 mental health contacts, birth-spacing education for 1,332 people, and 34 referrals to hospitals for life-saving procedures.
On Ilha das Cinzas, a small Brazilian island town in the middle of the Amazon River estuary, Associação Dos Trabalhadores Agroextrativistas Da Ilha Das Cinzas (ATAIC) uses solar energy to strengthen the local economy. With the Honnold Foundation’s support, ATAIC is repairing previously installed solar systems, and installing 40 more. 15 of those new systems will power families’ homes, and the remaining 25 will be used for automated agriculture systems.
ATAIC delayed their solar installation until early 2021 to keep their community safe. In the meantime, their team is distributing food and water throughout town. They’re also providing additional project management training for their staff; as soon as the community’s COVID risk lowers, the team will be ready to complete the installation.
Recognizing a long history of energy exploitation and extraction, GRID Alternatives’ Tribal Program increases tribal communities' energy sovereignty by building locally sited, community-owned solar systems.
Over the past year, GRID’s team installed 97.6 kW of solar power through 20 projects, serving 19 tribal households, as well as an installation on the administration building for the Torreon Chapter of the Navajo Nation. Many of the tribal communities GRID partners with have experienced significant health and economic impacts from the COVID pandemic. Several projects were postponed until 2021, but GRID has adapted; with the Honnold Foundation’s support, GRID revised their job training program to launch a remote, paid training program for tribal members.
The KOPPESDA Foundation and their partner, Sumba Sustainable Solutions, work with the Honnold Foundation to bring solar energy and upcycled battery storage systems to 320 homes, health care providers, and schools on Sumba Island—the southernmost island in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
COVID-19’s impact on the global supply chain has delayed the battery storage systems’ delivery. However, the delays also gave KOPPESDA’s team a chance to fine-tune where these systems could be best used in the community. Throughout the pandemic, Sumbanese teachers have struggled to facilitate remote learning for their students. Most teachers and schools lack reliable electricity, and many teachers work by candlelight to prepare for each day’s classes. When KOPPESDA’s first batch of solar energy and storage units arrives in December 2020, schools and health clinics will be the first places powered by the sun.
Our partners work in diverse ways, but they’re united by a common vision— a better, brighter future for all of us. Make a gift today to join us in working towards a brighter world.