REGGAE FOR HAITI PV

Rasta gone solar: Reggae band Steel Pulse donates song download for Haitian PV projects
Tom Cheyney, 18 August 2010 (PV-tech)

"…[David Hinds, the] British Rastaman, whose band Steel Pulse has carried the flag for the Jamaican-born music since the days when Bob Marley walked the Earth, has put his songwriting talents behind…the solar electrification of health clinics in earthquake-wracked Haiti. Hinds and his group are giving 100% of the proceeds gathered from donations made when charitable music-lovers download his newly recorded “Hold On (4 Haiti)” track at a new Website dedicated to the relief campaign.

"…[Through] the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) and Partners In Health (PIH)… funds will go to hard-pressed clinics affiliated with PIH (the largest health-care provider in the island nation) and operated by Zanmi Lasante…up in the remote highlands…SELF…and its partners have been bringing solar-power systems to impoverished, energy-starved rural areas in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere since its founding in 1990…[It has installed 66 PV systems] in Haiti and eight other countries since 2007…"

From holdon4haiti via YouTube

"…[Solar industry companies that have donated to the Haiti project include SolarWorld (modules),]…Outback (inverters), Trojan (batteries), East Penn Manufacturing (batteries), Canadian Solar (modules), Suntech (modules), Main Street Power (modules), Sunsense (modules, inverters), Solar Liberty Foundation (complete system), and Q-Cells (modules)…"

click thru to donate

[Robert Freling, Executive Director, SELF:] "...[It is a song of hope and] our hope is that we can solar electrify all 12 hospitals and health centers for Partners In Health in Haiti. We were already working on electrifying PIH clinics, but in the wake of the earthquake we’ve been requested by PIH to accelerate our timeline for bringing solar power to all of their sites in Haiti."

"…[In rural Africa] and places like Haiti, solar PV is absolutely the most effective way to bring distributed (and clean) power to the people—especially compared to the thousands of dollars per kilometer it takes to extend the grid to isolated communities. It’s not even a question of “grid parity,” that familiar mantra of solar power advocates in the richer countries, since in many cases, there is no grid to access or achieve parity with…"