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During the last ten years this project has been introducing solar technology to remote and inaccessible villages in the Himalayas. Run by the Barefoot College in Rajasthan, India, the project has shown that with appropriate training, poor and rural communities can install solar equipment in their villages and then maintain it without any further external help.

The project has trained illiterate and semi-literate villagers as 'Barefoot Solar Engineers', (BSEs) at its Barefoot College in Rajasthan. After the training, they return to their home villages to install solar units and provide their communities with a skilled and competent repair and maintenance service.

The project has been working in 6 states along the Himalayas since 1990. A total of 110 Barefoot Engineers, of which 22 are women, have been trained during this time. Between them they are looking after five thousand solar lighting systems.