Leadsun Australia is lighting up Kokoda College
Solar is the key to powering remote Papua New Guinea.
With over 80% of the PNG population living in rural areas, the geographic diversity of this beautiful country means that a mere 6.3% of people living in remote areas have access to electricity.
Our education hub for Oro province and beyond, Kokoda College, is nestled in Kou Kou village at one end of the Kokoda Track. In the mountainous terrain of the Owen Stanley Ranges, the college and village are not connected to electricity grid and we rely on clean solar energy to power our operations wherever possible. We could not do so without partners who are experts in solar energy.
We first met Matt Pollard, CEO of Leadsun Australia, earlier this year when he walked the Kokoda Track with our partners Back Track Adventures lighting up communities along the track. Matt, who ambitiously founded Leadsun over ten years ago to transform our world by developing a new generation of solar-powered lighting systems, understands more than most the power of solar energy to change lives in remote areas.
In an exciting new partnership, Matt and Leadsun have generously donated 12 outdoor solar street lights to light up the campus at Kokoda College and an additional 30 portable indoor solar light kits complete with USB charging units. Matt and the team recently dropped in to our Sydney office to formalise our partnership and show us the units that are heading to the college.
Once installed by the team at Kokoda College, the ‘street’ lighting will mean our students and KTF team can move about the campus safely at night. The indoor units not only light the classrooms and living quarters making life much easier when the sun goes down, the USB ports allow students to power the tablets that contain all their learning materials. Studying just got a whole lot easier for our FODE students completing their Grade 10, 11 and 12 education.
With one light installed and 11 to go, we look forward to showing you a campus is bathed in light at night. Tenkyu tru Matt and Leadsun for illuminating Kokoda College.