A new initiative by SunEdison will see the installation of distributed solar power plants around India, bringing electricity to areas that have never had it before. Through the program, called Eradication of Darkness, SunEdison will design, install and manage the solar power systems in remote villages across the country.

According to the United Nations, one in five people in the world do not have electricity and  over 400,000 of these people live in India.  Lack of electricity limits education and economic opportunities and makes populations more vulnerable to sickness and famine.

Already the solar company has installed a 14-kilowatt solar energy plant in Meerwada, India that is supplying electricity to 400 villagers that were relying on kerosene lamps for light and walking 3 km for drinking water.

The program will be implemented in stages as funding from government grants and private investors and corporations, as well as logistical partners, are acquired. As of now, 29 villages in the Guna District have been identified for the next phase of installations.

An integral part of the program is educating the villages' residents on solar power and electricity, including safety training,

“As challenging as logistics are in rural electrification, it is important that residents have a voice in the development, deployment and management of a solution,” said Pashupathy Gopalan, Managing Director, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Operations, SunEdison. “We have worked very hard to understand their needs and provide education about the possibilities of electricity. We believe education is one of the most important aspects to ensuring the project’s success.”

via Press Release

Morocco is a country that is bursting with solar power potential -- it gets 3,000 hours a year of sunshine -- but it relies heavily on the import of fossil fuels. That may be turning around with plans for a 500 MW solar complex to include solar PV and concentrating solar installations and a larger goal to reach 2,000 MW of installed solar power capacity by 2020.

The complex will be built in Ouarzazate and should be completed by 2015. The first phase will be a parabolic trough facility. When completed, the project will prevent 240,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year, the equivalent of taking 80,000 cars off the road. The large project has been funded by at least partially funded by a $297 million loan from the World Bank.

Morocco also has great wind power potential along its coastline with a technical potential of about 10,000 MW, though a lack of transmission infrastructure to get that power into the grid is holding development back. Morocco's plans to install a mix of solar and wind power could reduce its fossil fuel imports by 2.5 million tons a year and carbon emissions by 9 million tons a year.

via CleanTechnica