NRG helping to ‘build back better’

By: centraljersey.com
Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of the massive earthquake in Haiti that devastated the small Caribbean island and a West Windsor solar energy company is helping to create a bright future as the country rebuilds.
NRG was awarded a grant of up to $500,000 to co-finance a joint effort with to the Solar Electric Light Fund to use solar power to electrify the off-grid central highlands village of Boucan-Carre. NRG has been helping with the continued recovery effort and hopes to make things better in the long-term with solar energy projects that offer Haitians long-term solutions to economic woes.
The project, The Sun Lights the Way: Brightening Boucan-Carre, is a partnership with Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) to provide photovoltaic solar to Haiti.
The village of Boucan-Carre was chosen because SELF had previously installed a 10-kilowatt photovoltaic system there. This system, operating at a local health clinic run by the locally acclaimed Zanmi Lasante (ZL, or Partners In Health (PIH)), now displaces seven barrels of diesel fuel each month – in addition to enabling improved health care.
"As an energy producer, this initiative is particularly meaningful to us as it very closely aligns with our business, as well as our corporate culture of giving back to our communities," said Lori Neuman, director of communications for NRG. "We’re very proud to fund such a worthy effort, which will help Haiti on so many levels: It will provide significant economic benefits, fulfill basic needs such as access to clean water and food, education, security and provide clean, sustainable electricity. Also, the ‘Solar Market Gardens’ component, which includes the sale of produce, will help empower the women of Haiti by providing them with needed jobs. These are very real, tangible results."
NRG committed $1 million to the project last year. With this additional funding commitment from the grant, SELF will elaborate a detailed plan for additional installations using reliable solar energy to power businesses, schools, hospitals, government institutions, community lighting, drip irrigation, solar market gardens, and a fish farm in Boucan-Carre.
"We at NRG are grateful for the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund’s commitment to this innovative technology, and proud to share the belief that distributed solar power can play a pivotal role in helping the Haitian people build a sustainable, healthy and prosperous society," said NRG President and CEO David Crane.
"This grant from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund will allow SELF to build on the exciting partnership we’ve established with NRG Energy," said SELF’s Executive Director Robert Freling. "From powering schools to fish farms and irrigation systems, we’re bringing the critical energy Haiti needs to build back better."
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund announced a total of $3.4 million in new grants and investments last week, all aimed at planting the seeds of long-term economic opportunity across Haiti. These efforts will establish building blocks for economic expansion and job growth, and, most importantly, foster an environment in which Haitians can determine their own future of prosperity.
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund was founded after Haiti’s devastating earthquake one year ago.
Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush determined that although there was – and continues to be – a need for immediate humanitarian relief, serious and difficult long-term work must be done to build the foundation necessary for a thriving economy. Today, the fund’s latest round of grants will continue this mission to promote job creation, train Haitian workers, provide capital to Haitian small businesses and help fill critical, unmet needs in the country.