JdeB<p>735 <a href="https://climatejustice.social/tags/ClimateSolutions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateSolutions</span></a> <a href="https://climatejustice.social/tags/SolarForGaza" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SolarForGaza</span></a></p><p>"The future of Gaza’s recovery may rely on solar power"<br>by Saqib Rahim for Grist [Mar 14, 2025] [Audio available]</p><p><a href="https://grist.org/energy/the-future-of-gazas-recovery-may-rely-on-solar-power/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">grist.org/energy/the-future-of</span><span class="invisible">-gazas-recovery-may-rely-on-solar-power/</span></a></p><p>Quotes:<br>"Facing destroyed infrastructure and limited control of energy supplies, off-grid options like solar are helping Palestinians rebuild."</p><p>"Growing up, Mashharawi had been accustomed to life with inconsistent power — as little as three hours a day. “It’s not easy to describe unless you live it,” she said. “Your life is completely messed up. Everything is controlled by others. Your life is controlled by when power is on and off.”</p><p>"But in fact, the two parties’ dysfunctional relationship around energy has a long history. .. a land and sea blockade. This included electricity: Israel came to control 10 power lines running into Gaza, as well as the diesel fuel needed to run its one power plant."</p><p>"Israel’s security establishment thought this hammerlock over Gazan energy meant leverage over Hamas, said Elai Rettig, a lecturer in energy politics at Bar-Ilan University. As for Hamas, many Gazans felt the group was more interested in its crusade against Israel than addressing public works.<br>For the people of Gaza, the conflict meant energy poverty...who had to jam all their chores into these fleeting windows of opportunity."</p><p>"Gaza’s energy dependence wasn’t cheap. Years of Palestinian counterparties failing to pay Gaza’s power bill — for financial and political reasons — had by 2023 racked up a debt to Israel of 2 billion shekels, about $500 million."</p><p>"Satellite imagery soon showed solar arrays sprouting on thousands of buildings across the Gaza Strip, especially in crowded areas like refugee camps. <br>It occurred to her that unreliable power was not just a burden in households, like the one she grew up in. Thousands of businesses across Gaza — restaurants, workshops, bakeries — yearned for a source of energy more reliable than what they had. Mashharawi decided to get into the energy business. She started Sunbox,.. [Mashharawi JdeB]"</p><p>"...working doggedly with Israeli authorities to get the equipment approved../\..She soon helped supply bigger projects. Sunbox equipped 20 small desalination plants, the engines of Gazan water production, with solar. It set up solar-charged streetlights so girls could feel more confident walking to school in the wee hours."</p><p>"It was a renewable revolution born of political dysfunction. The total number of solar arrays in the Gaza Strip vaulted from about a dozen in 2012 to 8,760 in 2019, mostly in the form of small rooftop systems. The extraordinary growth made the Occupied Palestinian Territories one of the fastest-growing renewable energy markets in the world.<br>By 2023, solar represented 25-40 percent of daytime power generation on the ragged Gazan grid, Rettig, of Bar-Ilan University, estimated."</p><p><a href="https://climatejustice.social/tags/NeverAgain" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NeverAgain</span></a> <a href="https://climatejustice.social/tags/StopTheGenocide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>StopTheGenocide</span></a><br><a href="https://climatejustice.social/tags/TakeCareForLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TakeCareForLife</span></a> <a href="https://climatejustice.social/tags/TakeCareForEarth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TakeCareForEarth</span></a> <br><a href="https://climatejustice.social/tags/StopBurningThings" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>StopBurningThings</span></a> <a href="https://climatejustice.social/tags/StopEcoside" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>StopEcoside</span></a> <a href="https://climatejustice.social/tags/StopThePlunder" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>StopThePlunder</span></a><br><a href="https://climatejustice.social/tags/ClimateBreakDown" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateBreakDown</span></a> <a href="https://climatejustice.social/tags/StopRapingNature" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>StopRapingNature</span></a></p>