Panasonic’s Solar Lantern Deployment Crosses 14000 mark in India

Panasonic has passed the halfway mark of “100 Thousand Solar Lanterns Project” with cumulative number of solar lanterns donated exceeding 50,000 on March 10, 2016.

Panasonic’s project started in February 2013 with a donation of 3,000 units to Myanmar, followed by donations to other areas in Asia and Africa without access to electricity. The number of solar lanterns donated was 10,000 for 3 countries in FY2013, 14,114 for 10 countries in FY2014 and 20,364 for 11 countries in FY2015. And in FY2016, Panasonic continued to donate solar lanterns, and on March 10, 2016, 702 units were donated to Yen Bai province in Vietnam. With this, the sum total of solar lanterns donated exceeded 50,000. Panasonic’s solar lantern deployment in India has crossed 14000 mark. Panasonic says that donation to Democratic Republic of Congo will be made by the end of March 2016, which brings the sum total to more than 60,000 units. Panasonic aims to donate 100,000 solar lanterns under this project by 2018, the 100th anniversary of the company’s founding.

With the  “100 Thousand Solar Lanterns Project” Panasonic hopes to help alleviate the social challenges people in developing and emerging countries living off-grid are facing, and to bring positive change to their lives by donating small lighting devices powered by solar energy.

The company in a statement said that “so far 80 organizations in 16 countries have received these solar lanterns”, reports from these organizations have indicated that these solar lanterns have been put to effective use for various activities including children’s studies, literacy education for adults, safer child delivery and medical treatment, and income-generation, and have helped improve the quality of life of people living in rural, off-grid areas.

Panasonic is currently donating Solar Lantern (BG-BL03) and Solar LED Light (BG-BL04).

Sum total of solar lanterns donated: Total: 53,260 (as of March 25, 2016)

1. Myanmar: 9,464
2. Cambodia: 8,914
3. Vietnam: 1,332
4. Philippines: 5,814
5. Indonesia: 2,020
6. Malaysia: 69
7. Thailand: 100
8. India: 14,006
9. Bangladesh: 760
10. Kenya: 6,008
11. Uganda: 100
12. Burundi: 1,233
13. Niger: 200
14. Liberia: 1,240
15. Guinea: 1,000
16. Sierra Leone: 1,000