Light of Guajira: Financing solar energy for 1,600 people

Light of Guajira

Financing solar energy for 1,600 people

37 lenders financed solar energy for 1,600 people in La Guajira, Colombia

Light of Guajira was Light Humanity's first collective solar loan in Colombia. Between 2022 and 2023, 37 people lent €18,000 to finance 225 solar systems from the social enterprise Tierra Grata, for rural families in La Guajira who live without electricity and light their homes with candles and kerosene.

  • What it is: Light Humanity's first crowdfunded solar loan in Colombia, enabling families without electricity to pay for a solar energy system in instalments.
  • Where: rural and remote communities in La Guajira, a semi-desert area in northern Colombia that the electricity grid does not reach.
  • Partners: Tierra Grata, a Colombian social organisation working on rural energy, water and sanitation, and its Tierra Energía project.
  • How: each system costs €75 and the family pays for it in monthly instalments over five years; it is prepaid.
  • Result: the first phase, of €18,000, reached 100% with 37 lenders.
  • What came next: “Light of La Guajira 2”, a second loan of €13,500 for another 200 systems, on Solar Crowd.
A young woman in a Tierra Grata T-shirt smiles and shows the yellow unit of a solar energy kit
Tierra Grata home solar kit, from the photos used to present the loan. Photo: Tierra Grata / Light Humanity
A man in a hat shows a lit solar lamp under the palm roof of his house
Solar lamp lit under a palm roof. Photo: Tierra Grata / Light Humanity
A woman dressed in red holds the box of a solar kit beside a donkey and a palm-thatched house
A resident with the box of a solar kit. Photo: Tierra Grata / Solar Crowd
An installer in a green vest fits a solar panel on a corrugated metal roof
Installing a solar panel on a roof. Photo: Tierra Grata / Solar Crowd
Vídeo: Webinar Inversión Colectiva contra la Pobreza Energética.14 dic
Webinar “Collective Investment Against Energy Poverty: New Light of La Guajira Project, Colombia”, with Eugenio García-Calderón, broadcast on 14 December 2022: Light Humanity presented Solar Crowd together with Tierra Grata. Video: Light Humanity (YouTube)

Light Humanity joins Tierra Grata to bring solar energy to La Guajira

Light of Guajira began as a pilot project for access to solar energy in northern Colombia. Light Humanity summed it up as “financial and technical support for the local Tierra Grata team to guarantee universal access to renewable energy in this Colombian region” (Light Humanity website, August 2022).

  • From Brazil to Colombia: according to Solar Crowd, its story began in 2018 with solar lamps for Breves, in the Brazilian Amazon (Light of the Amazon), and “with the success of the project in Brazil” it reached La Guajira in Colombia (video “The Story of Solar Crowd”).
  • As early as June 2022: Light Funding, Light Humanity's lending platform, was showing “Light of Colombia” as fundraising (archived website).

More than two million Colombians without electricity: energy poverty in La Guajira

More than two million Colombians have no electricity, and La Guajira has the country's highest rate of poverty and of households lacking basic services, according to the loan page.

  • Far from the grid: the communities are scattered across a remote, semi-desert area where running conventional power lines costs too much.
  • Candles and kerosene: families light their homes at night with candles and fossil fuels, a heavy expense for their incomes.
  • Plenty of sun: Colombia is among the countries with the greatest solar potential in the world, Light Humanity pointed out (February 2023 loan page).

A €75 solar system that each family pays for in instalments

The solution is a basic solar energy system for each home. Its cost, €75 per unit, is financed so that the most vulnerable families can pay according to their means, in small monthly instalments over five years.

  • What it provides: several electric light points and the ability to charge a phone and connect a radio and other small devices.
  • Prepaid: the equipment is unlocked when the family pays the agreed instalment; if they do not pay, it stops working (loan page).
  • What is expected: greater savings, more hours for work and study, and better respiratory health, with affordable energy that does not pollute.
A resident beside the yellow solar unit installed on a wooden post at his house
Solar unit installed in a home. Photo: Tierra Grata / Light Humanity
An installer fits a solar lamp under the eaves of a house made of wood and sheet metal
Fitting a solar lamp under the eaves. Photo: Tierra Grata / Light Humanity
A family poses with a solar panel, lamps and the yellow unit of a solar kit in front of their house
A family with a panel, lamps and a solar unit. Photo: Tierra Grata / Light Humanity

Tierra Grata, the Colombian social organisation bringing electricity, water and sanitation to the countryside

The local partner is Tierra Grata, an organisation founded in Cartagena de Indias that brings clean energy, safe water and sanitation to rural communities in Colombia. One of its co-founders, Jenifer Colpas, was named a CNN Hero in 2021 (CNN).

Vídeo: ¡Que grato tenerte aquí! Conoce qué es Tierra Grata - Video corporativo (SUB)
“How wonderful to have you here! Find out what Tierra Grata is”, the organisation's introductory video (2021), which Solar Crowd includes on the pages of the two Light of La Guajira loans. Video: Tierra Grata (YouTube)
  • Who was leading it: Jenifer Colpas, co-founder and executive director when the loan opened; her team then numbered seven people (Light Humanity).
  • Its reach: more than 31,000 people reached in rural communities since 2015, according to its website.
  • Tierra Energía: the Tierra Grata project that Light Humanity joined in promoting in La Guajira; the Fundación Tierra Grata guaranteed the loan to the company Tierra Energía at 100% (Solar Crowd).

“Thanks to this funding round, we will be able to help the young local entrepreneur fulfil one of her dreams”, Light Humanity wrote of Jenifer Colpas: making basic services, such as energy, accessible to the most vulnerable households in her country (loan page).

A Tierra Grata technician in a green T-shirt talks with residents of a rural Colombian community
The Tierra Grata team with a rural community. Photo: Tierra Grata / Light Humanity
A member of Tierra Grata talks with two residents on the porch of a rural house
A member of Tierra Grata with two residents. Photo: Tierra Grata / Light Humanity

Prepayment, a 100% guarantee and a contingency fund: how the loan was protected

Every loan carries risks, and the loan page pointed to the main one: that families would stop paying for their equipment. To reduce it, the project combined several safeguards (loan page).

  • Prepayment: if a family does not pay the instalment, its system does not work: the incentive to pay is very strong.
  • 100% guarantee: provided by Tierra Grata, thanks to a North American foundation that made a legal commitment to step in if there was a default.
  • Light Humanity's backing: it put up 15% of the total investment cost and, in the worst case, could repay 25% of the loan from a contingency fund drawn from members, donors and income from its renewable installations.
  • On the ground: the plan was to start in early 2023 with one person in the area for six months, overseeing the launch and compliance with the agreement.

€18,000 from 37 lenders: how the first phase was funded

At the end of 2022, the Light Humanity website announced a “new solar loan opportunity in Colombia”: €18,000 to pay for 225 solar systems. Anyone lending €1,000 would receive €1,105 over five years and would help more than 75 people have solar energy at home (loan page).

  • From €25: it was possible to lend from €25 at 3.25% a year, or up to 4% if the loan was made by bank transfer.
  • Launch: on 14 December 2022, Eugenio García-Calderón presented the “new Light of La Guajira project” in a webinar in which Tierra Grata also took part (video).

From 11 to 37 lenders

Poster for Light of La Guajira I: 100% funded in 20 days, €18,000, 1,600 people and 37 investors
The first-phase results, with the Tierra Grata and Light Humanity logos. Image: Light Humanity / Tierra Grata
“The main barrier to energy access in these countries is financing the infrastructure, and with these participatory loans that now has a solution” — Eugenio García-Calderón Huerta, CEO and co-founder of Solar Crowd (El Referente, 28/02/2023)

Light of La Guajira 2: a second loan of €13,500 on Solar Crowd

Light Humanity lists Light of La Guajira, with 100% raised, among the projects funded through Solar Crowd (Light Humanity, February 2023). This is the collective investment platform it promotes which, according to Energías Renovables, launched at the end of 2022.

  • The second loan: €13,500 over five years for 200 solar systems and more than 1,000 people who have no electricity and rely on candles (Light of La Guajira 2).
  • The initial plan: €36,000 for about 450 families and 3,200 people over the course of 2023, with the intention of later extending it to the rest of the region.
  • Colombia on the map: in June 2023, Solar Crowd counted more than 20,000 people supported in Kenya, Colombia, Spain and Honduras (Energías Renovables).
A father with his baby in his arms, a woman and a child show a solar kit inside their home
A family with a solar kit at home. Photo: Tierra Grata / Solar Crowd
A woman and a child hold a solar panel in front of an adobe house with a palm roof
A woman and a child with a solar panel in front of an adobe house. Photo: Tierra Grata / Solar Crowd

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