Solar Electric Light Fund

SELF was founded in 1990 by Neville Williams, author of “Chasing the Sun: Solar Adventures Around the World” and former U.S. Department of Energy staffer during the Carter administration. The organization’s primary mission was to develop small-scale solar energy systems for homes in rural communities that would generate enough power to run a few compact florescent lights, a radio, and a small black and white television for four or five hours each evening. By 1997, SELF had established 11 self-sustaining solar energy projects in eleven countries throughout Asia, Africa, and South America, such as powering 1,000 households in 14 villages in western China; starting a division within a national development agency to sell photovoltaic systems in Sri Lanka at prices villagers could afford.