acciona.org, ACCIONA’s corporate foundation, with co-funding from the Unzu Oroz Foundation, has launched the Light at Home program on the island of Araceli, in the Philippine province of Palawan. The initiative brings clean energy to 300 families (1,100 people) spread across four communities: Balogo, Taloto, San José and Mauringen. The homes, isolated in rural areas, have been equipped with residential photovoltaic systems with storage.

The project includes the establishment of a Light at Home Center, a local customer service center. The center is managed by local entrepreneurs who have received the necessary training and provides technical support and maintenance to ensure the continuity and quality of the power supply.

Before the implementation of Light at Home, these homes either lacked sufficient energy or had no source of electricity at all. All of them now have up to 12 hours of reliable electricity daily.

In this way, Light at Home aims to improve the living conditions of people in vulnerable communities and promotes human development. By providing a stable electricity supply, it contributes to family health and education, strengthens social cohesion, fosters new productive activities and small businesses, and helps reduce regional inequalities.

Clean solar energy systems replace diesel generators, the burning of kerosene and firewood and the use of batteries, thereby preventing the emission of polluting gases, the clearing of surrounding vegetation and the generation of non-recyclable waste that damages the environment.

In turn, it also prevents the deterioration of the ecosystems on which the rural and primarily agricultural communities depend. Replacing fossil fuels also prevents household accidents and fires.

DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS

acciona.org launched the Light at Home program in the Philippines in 2022, where it now benefits nearly 21,400 people in more than 4,400 households, small businesses, schools and community centers across the country. For this initiative on the island of Araceli, it is collaborating with the Unzu Oroz Foundation, which is undertaking its first project in the Philippines.

The Unzu Oroz Foundation is a social charity founded in 1989 by the Unzu family to support vulnerable people, primarily through social organizations in Navarre, and to fund international solidarity projects.

The Unzu Oroz Foundation collaborates with local organizations such as Caritas and the Navarre Food Bank, notably supporting the nursing home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor by funding a 98 kW photovoltaic system to reduce its energy costs. Internationally, it has promoted projects such as the construction of a school in Tete (Mozambique), in partnership with Manos Unidas, and an initiative to improve access to water in a rural area of Medercho (Ethiopia), in collaboration with the ICLI Foundation.