$211,000 Donation Saves $4,600,000 In Fuel For Impoverished Communities

Australian charity Pollinate Group continues to make significant headway in the distribution of micro-solar power solutions within impoverished communities beyond our shores; with some help from SolarQuotes.

In rural Nepal, 30% of the country’s households still lack access to electricity. Over the border in India, most rural village homes and many urban slums are still without power or have unreliable access. The situation means many families have to resort to kerosene lightning and diesel/petrol generators – expensive, polluting and dangerous.

Back in 2019, SolarQuotes teamed up with Australia-based Pollinate Group; a charity supporting micro-entrepreneurs in India and Nepal to sell (among other things) affordable, good quality solar lighting systems to some of the poorest people on the planet. As well as clean power, the female focus of Pollinate – a more recent pivot –  is a very important part of the group’s mission.

“Societal norms in India and Nepal are such that it’s difficult for women to find work even for those who want to work … Women also commonly have less power when it comes to decision making in the home, are less educated and less likely to own land.” says Pollinate.

For every genuine quote request submitted through SolarQuotes since July 2019, SQ founder Finn Peacock has been giving $1 to Pollinate Group to support their efforts. Those single dollars have really added up to do a lot of good – around $211,000 worth to date according to a letter received from Pollinate Group last week.

“Thanks to your support, we are empowering inspiring leaders like Laxmi, who lives with her family in Hyderabad. Laxmi is funding her children’s education with the increased income from sales of solar lights and sees herself as a clean energy ambassador in her community,” states part of the letter.

“I have never felt like a leader before, and this is the best feeling in the world” – Laxmi, micro-solar entrepreneur.

Micro-Solar’s Major Impact

Pollinate Group says donations provided by SolarQuotes have:

• Empowered 423 women entrepreneurs.
• Resulted in 10,143 solar lights and other renewable energy products being distributed.
• Avoided 265,453 tonnes of CO2e (estimated over the 5-year life of the products).
• Positively impacted 56,803 people living in poverty by helping them access education and improve the health of their communities.
• Saved communities $4.6 million AUD in reduced fuel costs (estimated over the 5-year life of the products).

Commenting on SolarQuotes’ involvement, Finn states:

“We’ve kept this association pretty low-key, but the SolarQuotes team and I are all incredibly proud of the partnership – and every Australian who has received a quote through my service shares in its success.”

When talking about solar installations here on SolarQuotes, we’re usually discussing systems in the kilowatts, megawatts or even gigawatts range.

“But as demonstrated by Pollinate’s fantastic efforts, even just a few watts can make a huge and lasting positive impact in people’s lives,” says Finn.

Pollinate Group always welcomes additional support – if you can spare a few bucks; consider a donation.