Vote for solar for Timor
Renew has been shortlisted for a $20,000 Australian Ethical Community Grant for our work in Timor Leste.
The grant application, submitted under our Renewable Energy Development Trust, will build the capacity of a Timorese social enterprise to implement an exciting new model for delivering solar power to off-grid homes.
This model is called solar Pay-As-You-Go (PayGo). Under the PayGo model, a family is given the opportunity to pay for a solar home system over time using their savings on kerosene expenditure. Payments are made in a similar way to recharging credit on a pre-paid mobile phone by purchasing coupons to enter into the PayGo solar home system via a keypad. You can read more about this model in this article in Renew magazine.
Renew has been active in raising funds for PayGo over the past few months. The funds already raised have been earmarked for purchasing equipment for our local partner to install in off-grid communities.
The hardware, however, is only one side of the puzzle. The funding from Australian Ethical Community Grant will be used help build the capacity of our local social enterprise partner. This will be achieved through training of local staff, development of manuals for business operations and technical guides, the installation of a solar system to provide more reliable supply in our partner’s office, and the development of an impact video to help to raise further funds.
Winning the Australian Ethical Community Grant will help Renew and its local partners to:
- reduce indoor fumes, burns, fires and expenditure on kerosene; and
- increase lighting levels thereby enhancing the home environment for study and cottage industry.
Please VOTE for our project before the 29th July 2019.
If you would like to make a donation to further support the PayGo program you can do so at here