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Solar for Timor-Leste

Helping communities build a sustainable future in Timor-Leste

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Lighting up Timor-Leste

From 2003 to 2021, Renew worked with communities in Timor-Leste to provide clean, renewable lighting and electricity. We helped install solar lighting and power to more than 2,000 homes and over 100 community centres, orphanages, schools and hospitals in remote rural villages. We also helped train 180 village-based solar technicians.

Funding through the Google Impact Challenge in 2014 enabled us to develop a solar lighting prototype for households with enhanced functionality and performance monitoring features. In 2015-16 we rolled out the improved system to 600 homes in three districts and trained an additional 30 technicians.

From 2017 to 2019 Renew and its partners provided solar energy to a further 265 rural homes and trained 15 new local solar technicians.

To date, we estimate that our work installing household solar PV systems has provided modern energy services to over 10,700 people, enabled 550 people to undertake additional economic activity resulting in over $1.1 million of income, saved each household over $900 on kerosene expenditure, and displaced 4,250 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

Our program in Timor-Leste will wrap up in 2021. We will be handing over our work to our capable local partners and publishing a publication celebrating our many successes and our members memories of our work. Stay tuned for more updates on this process.