What It Takes to Make Solar Power Shine
Excerpt : Khun Chantho, a 30-year-old housewife, spent most of her life without electricity until she bought an 80-watt solar panel two weeks ago.
Living in a small town far from Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, she would have had to pay $200 to be connected to the electrical grid. Some of her neighbors choose to share electricity with those already connected to the grid, paying $7.50 monthly despite frequent blackouts.
Chantho’s photovoltaic system costs her a down payment of $100 and monthly installments of $11 for two years.
“Since we got electricity, my baby cries at night if we switch off the light,” Chantho said, pointing to the small energy saving coil bulb hanging from the ceiling.
Chantho isn’t the only beneficiary of the solar power system. It is the same story for a group of young men and women in Takeo, an economically dormant province in southern Cambodia that even NGOs pay little attention to. The group built, sold and installed a photovoltaic system and aims to set up a renewable energy firm.
Publication date: 15 October 2012
Journalist: Kim Da-ye
Publication (link to article): The Korea Times
Excerpt : Khun Chantho, a 30-year-old housewife, spent most of her life without electricity until she bought an 80-watt solar panel two weeks ago.
Living in a small town far from Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, she would have had to pay $200 to be connected to the electrical grid. Some of her neighbors choose to share electricity with those already connected to the grid, paying $7.50 monthly despite frequent blackouts.
Chantho’s photovoltaic system costs her a down payment of $100 and monthly installments of $11 for two years.
“Since we got electricity, my baby cries at night if we switch off the light,” Chantho said, pointing to the small energy saving coil bulb hanging from the ceiling.
Chantho isn’t the only beneficiary of the solar power system. It is the same story for a group of young men and women in Takeo, an economically dormant province in southern Cambodia that even NGOs pay little attention to. The group built, sold and installed a photovoltaic system and aims to set up a renewable energy firm.
Publication date: 15 October 2012
Journalist: Kim Da-ye
Publication (link to article): The Korea Times