Giving Compass' Take:

• In this NextBillion post, Israeli entrepreneur Yo’av Moshe discusses his company SolarBox and how it's helped install low-cost, sustainable energy units in areas of Palestine.

• The effort wasn't without challenges: Navigating politics and permits proved difficult. But SolarBox is a good example of how technology can produce social good when the willpower is there.

• Here's how another solar startup is bringing renewable energy to Haitian businesses.

The SolarBox company started officially at the end of 2017. Since that time, we have been providing low-cost solar energy kits to different populations in our area — Palestinians, Bedouins and many more who are in need. Our process begins by figuring out the exact needs of the people who will be our prospective customers. We look at their specific appliance needs and provide them with higher-quality, lower-maintenance devices. In one location, we are introducing a way to remotely monitor the devices, and we are planning to train one person from each village to be a technician in case there is a problem. Since they often live in the middle of the desert, technological help is hard to access.

We also conducted market research to determine how much people could pay for this system. Making the devices self-installable was key. Solar technology itself has gotten so much cheaper, but labor to install it is expensive and makes up 60 percent of the total cost. Price is the biggest barrier for the communities that we are trying to serve. Our goal is definitely for the company to be profitable. However, rather than making as big a profit margin as possible, we are looking for our company to be sustainable, so we can continue bringing energy solutions to more people. Supporting communities who have been suffering is our primary focus.

Read the full article about the Israeli-run solar startup helping to expand energy access in the Palestinian territories by Yo’av Moshe at NextBillion.