Energy-Poor Nepal Looks to Solar for Post-Quake Power
Nonprofit groups are raising money to provide emergency food aid, build latrines, and install free solar panels atop health clinics.
Even before the earthquake, Nepal had such long power blackouts that midwives were known to clench flashlights between their teeth to deliver babies. Now, it faces darker times. So nonprofit groups are raising money for—among other things—free solar panels to keep the lights on in health clinics.
“Paying is not an option, because they’ve lost everything,” says Kathmandu resident Avishek Malla of his Nepalese countrymen, thousands of whom died, were injured or saw homes collapse when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck on April 25.
Desperate times call for new measures. Malla, local director of operations for solar installer SunFarmer, says the nonprofit is shifting gears. Instead of building rent-to-own solar projects for health clinics and schools, it’s soliciting funds so it can
