This summer promises a lot of work, and a lot of travel. Sirona will deploy nine SunBlazer units and bring light to 747 homes in the St. Marc commune of Haiti in a project funded by USAID. The equipment is in New York ready to go so we are working out our logistics and focusing on milestones associated with deployment of those units. We are very excited about this project as we will be using the funding generated by this grant to deploy an additional nine units in Haiti this fall. The nine SunBlazers we are sending were donated by the IEEE Community Solutions Initiative. As we prepare for the deployment we have have been busy working out design changes and the supply chain for future units that will be built in Haiti.
In addition to this project we have more to do in Haiti in the southern region near Les Cayes with the UNEP on their Haiti Rengeneration Initiative. We will be partnering with EarthSpark International to open "Energy Stores" along the grid that will give people living beyond the powerlines affordable options for lighting their homes. The goal is to open 10 energy stores in a year supplying energy to over 1,000 homes. The seed funding from this grant will build sustainable business and we look forward to working on this project later this summer.
Finally, we will be traveling to South Africa to attend the IEEE's Power and Energy Society conference entitled Power Africa 2012. Sirona will be presenting at a CSI workshop alongside this conference geared to NGOs in Africa that could use the SunBlazer technology to light their areas through sustainable business rather than charity. Please visit those links if you are interested in attending, the conference takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa, July 10-13.
If someone is going to Africa not to enjoy a safari trip, I would call it nothing but bad luck. Anyways, we must support Sirona’s cause. I also want to donate for the cause but could not find any link for it. I would advise Sirona people to get all cheap flights to Freetown Africa through one travel agency Reliance Travels UK and many others that is covered by ATOL. That will decrease their travel cost and they will have more money to spend for the cause.
Posted by: Oscar Noahan | October 05, 2012 at 07:57 AM
I thank you for your comments, and suggestions, and we at Sirona would be grateful for any support. There is a "Donate" button on the right hand side of the blog page, and all donations are tax deductible. Thank you for your support!
Posted by: Michelle Lacourciere | November 26, 2012 at 12:53 PM