Lumină pentru România (Light for Romania)

Light for Romania is a social campaign dedicated to families who live without electricity and light. The project discovered people in need via document analysis and field work. The local authorities assisted with information about people and households living without electricity. With a budget range of between 100,000 and 1 million euros the project installed photovoltaic systems that provide free electricity to almost 250 families and 1,000 individuals, 4 public schools and 2 churches. In total, about 300 photovoltaic systems were installed in 97 communes in 29 counties in Romania.

The project activities developed as follows:

• Desk and field research, correspondence with local and central authorities in order to obtain information about residents and households that have no access to electricity.
• Budget collection for the implementation phase including the purchase, transportation and installation of photovoltaic systems.
• Installation of the photovoltaic systems. During this phase, the project conducted field research on the further needs and capacity of residents and households. Financial and technical guidance was provided to residents and households that wished to connect to the public electricity grid.
• Technical guidance was provided for the beneficiaries and monitoring for the photovoltaic systems installed.

This is an inspiring good practice of a project that provides sustainable and green energy solutions at low cost and through private and public donations to tackle energy poverty and address the needs of vulnerable consumers. In parallel, the project raises awareness on energy solutions among consumers in need. Challenges that arose during the project were related to data collection, stakeholder involvement and national regulations.

The project started in 2013 and is still ongoing.

Main beneficiaries: children, disabled, elderly and the energy poor.

It addressed the topics of: electrification, energy access and consumption, renewable energy, rural areas and vulnerable consumers.

The partners of the project: charity, commercial organisation, crowdfunding, media, NGO and private company.