In Chad, the aid office runs on sunshine now: a solar pilot that cuts the diesel bill by at least a quarter

At a UN agency office in N'Djamena, Chad, the diesel generator is finally getting a rest. A new pilot called ZERO, backed by the UK Government's Ayrton Fund through the ZE-Gen initiative, supplies solar panels and batteries to humanitarian agencies the way a utility supplies a home — they pay only for the electricity they actually use, with no big upfront cost to find first. The first system is already running, and the pilot is cutting energy costs by at least 25%. Generator running time at the first sites is projected to fall by 73–85%, and the first two sites together are expected to save around $1 million over ten years — money that can go to water, clinics and frontline work instead of fuel.

SDG 7 · Affordable and clean energy — Mechanism: institutional program