Solar Kiosks for Solomon Islands Schools
We are seeking funding assistance to build five 1kW solar charging stations at 5 off-grid rural training centers in the Solomon Islands. Project locations have been selected due to their remote location, lack of electrical grid access and specific school community needs. A station illustration .pdf is available at the bottom of this page.
The stations have been designed to charge mobile phones, battery banks, tablets, portable LED light bulbs and other basic loads. Our first installation is scheduled to occur March, 2023 at Vatu Rural Training Center in east Guadalcanal Province. The structures will also house a passive solar food dehydration unit, an emergency response system and telecommunications hub. Solomon Islanders typically make costly trips to recharge devices, they use expensive and dangerous kerosene lanterns for lighting and live with little to no food preservation options. This project will demonstrate ways school communities (20-100) can benefit and ultimately serve as a scalable model for improving whole village quality of life (100-1000).
During phase 2 we will grow and cross-coordinate renewable energy curriculum development, emergency response networking, Wi-Fi integration and natural disaster response systems. Unreliable shortwave and AM radios currently serve as the only option for people to learn about, respond to and sustain during the most difficult situations.
Phase 3 will include village scale micro-grid systems supported by business development training and university & governmental level renewable energy operations and maintenance programming. Limited grid access and rising sea levels due to climate change will continue to challenge energy infrastructure development in island countries for decades to come.
Our collective vision serves as a bold and potentially transformative residential level infrastructure development undertaking. We have set highly attainable cost effective goals alongside host-country nationals. Our Solomon Islands team provides both technical and culturally sensitive perspectives guiding this mission and what it means to sustainably develop appropriate technologies alongside marginalized societies.
Please contact us if you would like additional information or are ready and able to lend a hand with financial support!
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