Bringing Off-Grid Solar to Remote Village Schools in Laos

Solar is usually about savings and sustainability at home. But some of the work that means the most to us has nothing to do with a bill. Between 2014 and 2019, Rezeca and our partners helped bring electricity to schools in remote villages across Laos, where the grid does not reach, using off-grid solar power.

Working alongside the YMCA and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), our team helped design and install standalone solar systems for village schools in Luang Prabang province, including Ban Phongsavanh, Ban Keng Khene and Ban Lad Khammune, and in Oudomxay province at Ban Hua Hin. In places like these, an off-grid solar system is often the first reliable source of electricity a school has ever had.

Why off-grid solar matters here

In a remote village with no grid connection, power cannot simply be switched on. Diesel generators are costly to run and depend on fuel being carried in. A solar system with battery storage works differently: it captures energy from the sun during the day and stores it for use after dark, with no fuel and very little maintenance. For a school, that can mean lighting for evening study, charging for devices, and the ability to run basic equipment.

Engineering for places without a grid

Designing for an off-grid site is a different exercise from a Singapore rooftop. There is no grid to export to or draw from, so the system has to be sized to carry the load on its own, with enough battery capacity to get through cloudy days. The equipment also has to be robust and simple enough to be looked after locally, long after the installation team has gone home.

The same engineering discipline we bring to landed homes and commercial roofs in Singapore is what makes projects like these work: careful load assessment, honest system sizing, and equipment chosen to last.

Part of how we work

This is one of several community initiatives Rezeca supports, alongside our solar school project in ChiangMai, senior volunteering with the Caregiving Welfare Association, and Project Solar Proa at NUS. In 2025, this ongoing work was recognised when Rezeca was named a Company of Good by Singapore's National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre.

For us, bringing solar to a village school in Laos and installing it on a home in Singapore come from the same belief: that clean, reliable power should be within reach for more people.