Solar Electric Light Fund
A Solar Energy Project in Bhutan
Photovoltaic
Rural
Gross National Happiness
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) has been honored with an invitation to partner with a number of
Bhutanese organizations in developing a pilot solar
electrification project for Bhutan’s Phobjikha Valley,
an environmentally sensitive
region that is home to the
rare black-necked crane.
Electrification
and kerosene fumes), serious burns (from open
fires), and environmental degradation (due to pollution and cutting trees for wood). It also contributes
to increased school dropout rates, higher birth
rates, and urban migration.
Extending the electrical grid
would be prohibitively expensive, costing as much as
$10,000 a kilometer. It would
Such invitations are not isalso exact a very high envisued casually. Sobered by the
ronmental price, measurable
experiences of its neighbors,
in air pollution and greenNepal and Tibet, Bhutan only
house gas emissions (assumopened up to outsiders thirty
ing generating plants fired by
years ago. The Royal Governfossil fuels), or damage to fish
ment of Bhutan cautiously
and other river species (if
Young monks in western Bhutan.
guides economic developlarge dams are built for hyment, rejecting outside interdropower). Moreover, transventions, however well-intentioned, that run counter
mission lines would mar Bhutan’s incomparable
to its emphases on cultural and environmental preslandscapes.
ervation, self-reliance, and human development. The
King, His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, once
Fortunately, there is a compelling alternative in desaid that “more aid does not necessarily mean more
centralized solar energy, which over the last decade
development, and more development does not
SELF has demonstrated can be the fastest, cheapest,
mean more happiness.”
most sustainable, and most eco-friendly way to
For Bhutan, the world’s last surviving Buddhist kingdom, the
touchstone of sound development is not growth in income,
consumerism and GNP, but rather
what the King has called “gross
national happiness,” measured in
social solidarity, cultural continuity, and environmental integrity. Though more gradual, Bhutan’s
development approach has had impressive results.
For example, in the last ten years, infant mortality
has been halved, while literacy has doubled.
The Royal Government is giving increasing attention
to improving the quality of life for rural citizens, the
vast majority of whom live in remote and rugged areas at great distances from an electrical grid.
Absence of power is much more than an inconvenience. Lack of electrical lighting contributes to bad
eyesight and lung problems (due to wood smoke
bring electricity to many of the two billion rural people in developing countries still living without power.
Solar Power in the Phobjikha Valley
The Phobjikha region has been identified as an ideal
place to demonstrate solar power’s potential in rural
Bhutan. Phobjikha is a glacial valley on the western
flanks of Bhutan’s Black Mountains, and is designated
SELF’S Mission
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) helps
developing nations power a brighter future for
their people and the planet through innovative
uses of solar energy. SELF’s projects address vital
needs including household lighting, water pumping
and purification, vaccine refrigeration, education,
microenterprise, and modern communications. In
every action, SELF seeks to honor the integrity of
indigenous cultures, and to respect the delicate
balance of the local and global ecosystem.
Visit SELF on the Web at www.self.org.
/ 100% recycled paper (minimum 20% post-consumer content)
A Solar Energy Project In Bhutan
The
Black-necked cranes
Solar
Electric
an official conservation area because of the large flock of rare,
endangered black-necked cranes
that winter there. The cranes are
revered in Bhutanese folklore,
and one of the most popular folk
songs laments the time each
spring when they leave the valley to return to Tibet.
The number of black-necked cranes has now dwindled to 6,000, in part because of steady shrinkage
of their forest habitat in Phobjikha. A significant factor in this habitat loss is the chopping of trees for
fuelwood by people living without electricity.
Solar power will lessen this pressure on Phobjikha’s forests, and provide multiple additional
benefits, including:
!
Improved Health. Fumes and smoke from kerosene lamps and wood fires pose serious health
problems throughout Bhutan. The World Bank estimates that breathing kerosene fumes can be as
harmful as smoking two
packs of cigarettes a day.
!
Improved Safety. Kerosene
lamps and wood torches
are a serious fire hazard,
killing and maiming dozens
of Bhutanese every year.
By contrast, solar electric
light is entirely safe.
!
!
!
Light
Fund
Reduction of Foreign Debt and Capital Savings.
Solar electrification will create jobs and business opportunities related to the dissemination
of an appropriate energy technology in a decentralized marketplace. It will also reduce the
amount of fossil fuels (kerosene, diesel fuel for
generators) that Bhutan is forced to import.
Project Details
The pilot solar electrification project in Phobjikha
Valley will span a two year period, and bring small
solar home power systems to about 200 of the
area’s 500 families.
SELF’s project partners are four Bhutanese organizations: Tshungmed Solar, Inc., the Bhutan Development Finance Corporation, the Bhutan Trust Fund,
and the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature.
SELF will team with these partner organizations to
provide low interest loans to Phobjikha households that want to acquire a
solar home power system.
As the interest and principal
on these loans is repaid,
others in the community will
be able to borrow in turn
for their own systems.
Besides helping establish this
revolving loan fund, SELF will
train Phobjikha villagers in
how to install and maintain
the solar power systems, so
A summer day in the Phobjikha Valley.
that the know-how to susSlowed Urban Migration. The explosive growth
tain the project remains after SELF steps away.
of cities in developing nations is straining the
SELF has been asked to take part in the project benatural environment and overwhelming social
cause of its accomplishments in similar projects in
service systems. By easing living conditions in
twelve other countries, including Bhutan’s neighbors,
rural areas, solar electrification can lessen the
Nepal, India and China, and its steadfast commitpull of places like Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital city,
ment to local self-reliance and empowerment.
and preserve the unique fabric of village life in
the Phobjikha region.
If the pilot project succeeds as expected, the Royal
Government anticipates expanding it to other unEnhanced Literacy and Education. Night falls by
electrified parts of the country, giving Bhutan the
7:00 p.m. in Bhutan over much of the year. Elecpotential to be a bright beacon to other developtric light will improve literacy by allowing peoing nations who seek to move forward in a mindful
ple to read after dark more easily than with a
way that preserves the irreplaceable in their culkerosene lamp. Moreover, schoolwork will imtural and natural identity.
prove and eyesight be safeguarded.
“
The heart of the matter, as I see it, is the stark fact that world poverty is primarily a problem of two million villages,
and thus a problem of two thousand million villagers. The solution cannot be found in the cities of the poor countries.
Unless the hinterland can be made tolerable, the problem of world poverty is intolerable,
and inevitably will get worse.”
—E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful
A Solar Energy Project in Bhutan
The
Solar
Electric
Light
Fund
Official endorsement of the Phobjikha Project
by the Royal Government of Bhutan
About SELF
The Solar Electric Light Fund, a nonprofit founded
in 1990, has undertaken projects in twelve developing nations across the globe. Projects are
typically in villages far from an electrical grid, and
with little prospect of being grid-connected in the
foreseeable future. The villages have high potential to benefit from solar power, but little experience using it, and no current market mechanism
to provide it.
Rather than a hand-out, a solar power system
from SELF provides a hand-up. Most SELF systems are purchased on credit, drawing on a revolving loan fund established by SELF with help
from donors. A household-sized solar power
system can cost only a few hundred dollars, but
this is often far more than a struggling third world
family can raise all at once. A SELF “microloan”
makes the acquisition possible, and the monthly
installments are usually no more than the family
is already paying for other energy resources such
as kerosene, candles or dry cell batteries.
Defaults are extremely rare, with more than 98%
of microloans fully repaid with interest. As the
fund is replenished, other families can in turn
borrow for their own systems. Or the community
may elect to use the fund for a collective solar
power need, such as a village water pump, or
vaccine refrigerator, or computer center.
In every project, SELF strives to seed a grassroots
solar industry that can sustain its momentum
even after SELF steps away, with new jobs and
businesses focused on system installation, maintenance, and manufacture.
SOLAR ELECTRIC LIGHT FUND BOARD OF DIRECTORS
ROGER S. BALLENTINE, President,
Green Strategies, Inc.
ROBERT A. FRELING, Executive Director,
Solar Electric Light Fund
MARY GREEN SWIG, President and CEO,
Mary Green Enterprises
ED BEGLEY, JR., Actor and Environmentalist
LARRY HAGMAN, Actor and Environmentalist
STEVEN L. SWIG, Chairman,
Presidio World College
JOHN PAUL DEJORIA, Chairman and CEO,
PAUL DEAN MAYCOCK, President,
John Paul Mitchell Systems
Photovoltaic Energy Systems, Inc.
FREEMAN J. DYSON, Professor Emeritus of
KATHLEEN A. McGINTY, Former Chair,
Physics, Institute for Advanced Study
White House Council on Environmental
Quality
H. PERRY TAUBMAN, Attorney,
Washburn, Briscoe & McCarthy
Solar Electric Light Fund
1775 K Street NW, Suite 595
Washington, DC 20006
T: (202) 234-7265
F: (202) 328-9512
E-mail: [email protected]
On the Web at: www.self.org
A Solar Energy Project In Bhutan
The
Solar
Electric
Light
Fund
Make Your Own Contribution to
Gross National Happiness
The estimated cost of the pilot solar electrification project in Phobjikha Valley is $200,000.
The Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation has given the project a kick-start with
a pledge of $35,000, and an anonymous donor
has committed an additional $10,000. That leaves
us only $155,000 away from our goal.
Help that you and other friends of Bhutan can
offer will pay dividends many times over: by improving the lives of Phobjikha Valley’s people, by
protecting the forest habitat of the black-necked
crane, and by setting Bhutan on an energy path
that is clean, sustainable, and in harmony with
the values of Gross National Happiness.
SELF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so investments in the project are tax-deductible.
Interested in taking part? Contributions can be
sent to the address below.
Bhutan Project
Solar Electric Light Fund
1775 K Street NW
Suite 595
Washington, DC 20006
You can also make a contribution through our
Website, at www.self.org.
Want to learn more about the project? E-mail us
at [email protected] or call us at 202/234-7265.
We will be pleased to send you a detailed project plan.
THE GREEN CROSS MILLENNIUM AWARD
SELF is honored to be a recipient of the
1998 Green Cross Millennium Award
for International Environmental Leadership, presented by Mikhail Gorbachev and Global Green USA. In conferring the Award, President Gorbachev
cited SELF for “its vanguard efforts in creating
a value shift for the new millennium.”
“
A brief introduction to
solar photovoltaic power.
Photovoltaic power is the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity. The
photo (light)/voltaic (electricity) effect— the process by which certain materials such as silicon or selenium produce an electric current when struck by
sunlight— was first discovered in 1839.
Bell Labs developed the first practical
application of the technology in 1953,
and just five years later NASA found
solar cells to be an ideal energy source
for powering satellites in space.
The energy crises of the 1970’s sparked
interest in the earthbound potential of
solar power, with new research yielding
sharp gains in efficiency and affordability. Further technical advances in more
recent years have produced solar cells
that convert as much as 32% of available
sunlight into electricity, as compared to
the 4% efficiency of the first generation
of cells developed at Bell Labs.
Solar cells have fallen steeply in price
and, in rural areas far removed from an
electric grid, often provide the least expensive means of electrification. Factoring in the overlooked costs that go with
electricity generated by fossil fuels—including air pollution, global warming, and
the destruction of landscapes through
mining and drilling— makes solar energy
an even more cost-effective solution.
Solar power has made a lot of things different...Our children can spend much more time on their homework. And what’s
more important, they no longer ruin their eyesight reading with a kerosene lamp. The women have good light to cook by
and have started to weave handbags in the evenings. They also hold literacy classes.
solar power to the village has brought us all closer together.”
Making the decision to bring
— Dak Bahadur Gurung, Village Leader, Pulimarang, Nepal