Empowered by Light

EBL completed four projects in Puerto Rico in 2024. EBL installed solar and energy storage (batteries) on a direct services facility on the island of Vieques that provides daily meals to elderly and bedridden neighbors. EBL also installed solar+storage on three community centers in very poor and/or vulnerable areas of Puerto Rico that have a high percentage of elderly people or are at risk of being cut off from supplies and services due to flooding during major storms.EBL installed an off-grid solar-powered water system (pumping, storage and irrigation) for a village in Zambia benefitting approximately 300 people. The solar water systems are managed by a women?s collective that also oversees the gardens irrigated by water pumped by the system. These systems save the women significant time they used to spend walking to and from the river hauling water. The systems also keep the women safer since they?re no longer having to risk encounters with hippos, crocodiles and elephants while collecting water from the river. - EBL also installed an off-grid solar and energy storage system on the St Thomas Community School, a school serving over 400 students in a remote part of Zambia. The solar energy system allows students to study after dark and increases student safety with security lighting. - In response to Africa?s severe drought, EBL supported battery installations at two pans (watering holes) in Zimbabwe to enable the existing solar-powered water pumping systems to pump water into the pans during the night. This was particularly important to the health and survival of African elephants who typically avoid the mid-day in order not to overheat. - EBL installed a solar-powered water pump for a poor and remote village in Kenya enabling the community to readily access drinking water, saving women time previously spent collecting water from the river and improving the safety of everyone in the village.