Twende Solar in the News

 
 

Rotary Club of Camas-Washougal supports solar project in Ghana

Post-Record - October 2025

“The Rotary Club of Camas-Washougal recently donated $1,000 to Twende Solar to complete a community solar project in Ghana.”

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Twende Solar selects site for 2022 Solar Games equipment donation

solar power world - July 2022

For the past couple of years, Intersolar North America (ISNA) and Energy Storage North America (ESNA) have teamed up with Twende Solar, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering under-resourced communities with renewable energy systems. The goal of the partnership is to provide energy-impoverished communities with greater access to lighting, cooking, communications and education through donations from the Equipment Sponsors of ISNA/ESNA’s annual Solar Games installer competition.

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Queets Community Center gets Solar Panels; First on the Quinault Indian Nation

Nugguamn - April 2021

QIN has its first solar panels! Thanks to Twende Solar, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), volunteer installers and electricians and Quinault volunteers looking to learn solar installation skills, there is a 22.5 kW solar array on the Queets Community Center. The installation took place from February 25th to the 28th.

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When the good outweighs profit: Solar companies go philanthropic 

Solar power world - november 2020

When Oregon solar installer Elemental Energy’s founder John Grieser traveled to rural Tanzania for college credit ten years ago, he found that residents didn’t have consistent access to electricity. Recognizing that solar could provide energy where the African country’s electrical grid didn’t reach, Grieser and other Elemental Energy employees founded Twende Solar, a standalone nonprofit focused on both international and domestic philanthropic solar development.

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The Village That Discovered Light

Your Perfect Peru - October 2019

The lack of electricity in the remote village of Mushuk Llamas caught the attention of a Twende Solar volunteer while vacationing in Peru. Members of the off-grid community agreed that solar was the ideal power source for their homes, school, and medical center. Twende Solar stepped in to deliver a 7.2kW array with battery backup.

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Companies take Twende Solar’s Photovoltaic Oath to provide renewable energy to communities in need

Solar Power world - September 2019

Manufacturer Unirac joins solar contractors Elemental Energy and SunPower by Milholland Electric in taking Twende Solar’s Photovoltaic Oath, committing to use their expertise and resources to help further Twende’s mission to empower energy-deficient communities by implementing renewable energy systems worldwide.

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Portland Rescue Mission Partners with Twende Solar

KAtu - june 2018

It's a landmark project between two local non-profit organizations. Erin Holcomb from Portland Rescue Mission and Marissa Johnson from Twende Solar joined us to share the installation of a solar energy system at Shepherd's Door and how that will benefit far more than the resident's of the one facility.

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Nonprofit Twende Solar Brings Solar Benefits to Portland Rescue Mission

energy trust | November 2018

In October, Energy Trust staff presented a big check to Portland nonprofit Twende Solar for installing solar panels on the Portland Rescue Mission’s Shepherd’s Door facility, a residential addiction recovery program for women and their children.

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Massive Nonprofit Installation Helps Portland’s Homeless in a Powerful Way

Solar power world | November 2018 (pages 24-29)

This project size required massive people-power, but Twende Solar had no trouble recruiting area solar companies and other industry workers to help. In fact, it had the opposite problem—so many people were willing to pitch in that some had to be turned down.

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Guatemala: Maya Jaguar School Recap

august 2016

What does it take to install 6.6kW of Washington-made iTek Energy solar modules atop a mountain in Guatemala?

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New Solar System Brings Hope and Opportunity to Cambodia School

SunPower | January 2017

The team at Twende Solar spent 10 months planning and raising funds for the solar installation project. In October, a group of 14 volunteers, including myself, traveled to the school for the week-long endeavor.

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Cambodia: Stephen Mazujian Middle School Recap

January 2017

Cambodia has one of the lowest electrification rates in SE Asia with an estimated 6.9 million people living without access to electricity. Where the grid is inaccessible or unreliable, households are forced to rely on expensive car batteries or pollutant diesel generators as power sources—costing as much as $1/kWh (compared to an average of 12 cents in the U.S.).

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