Call to Action
The August 4, 2020, blast at Lebanon’s port of Beirut was a turning point for Lebanon and her diaspora. Among the disconsolate in the U.S. were three descendants of emigrants from Ain Arab, in the Rashaya district of the Bekaa Valley.
Initial Steps
These Americans heard from Ain Arab’s mayor that the village’s most dire need was for solar power and recommended to him the comprehensive solar energy investment program developed by the Swiss-based Phoenix TSM Foundation. With the mayor’s assent, they established Illumi-Nation Global, Inc., a U.S. tax-exempt charity.
Implementation
Recently, descendants of the village of Maamariyeh, on Lebanon’s southern coast, joined the partnership with the Phoenix TSM Foundation, to implement The Phoenix Initiative. The Initiative‘s pilot projects in Maamariyeh and Ain Arab will provide a proof of concept for decentralized, community-based solar-generated electricity. With successful fundraising and investor engagement, Illumi-Nation Global plans to support many more villages with solar energy systems.
Timely Response for a Brighter Future
Beyond reliable, reasonably priced electricity, The Phoenix Initiative will lead to additional socioeconomic benefits for Ain Arab, Maamariyeh, and many other Lebanese locales, and not a moment too soon.
Phoenix TSM Foundation, based in Switzerland, is Illumi-Nation Global’s technical partner on The Phoenix Initiative. Mr. Rachad Itani founded Phoenix TSM and is also chairman of Fuel Cell Innovations Co. (FCI) a leading South Korean fuel-cell manufacturer and the principal architect of the Gigaton CO2 Removal Initiative. Dr. Alberto Ravagni, one of the world’s foremost authorities on fuel cells, is the president and co-founder of Phoenix TSM Foundation. He is the senior partner of the Dubai-based DUNE Energy company, which is a major shareholder and co-founder of FCI, and CEO of the Denmark-based Net Zero Innovation Hub for data centers, a company set up by Google, Microsoft, Schneider Electric, and Vertiv. Mr. Tobias KOCH, Dune’s COO, is the vice president of the Phoenix Foundation, and Dr. Alexander MOLL, OBE, is the foundation’s treasurer. Inquiries about the foundation are welcome at <info@phoenixtsmfoundation.org>.
The Illumi-Nation Global–Phoenix TSM Foundation partnership brings decades of experience in international development and business management, fuel cell technology, and solar energy generation to deliver clean, green electricity to Lebanon. The Phoenix Initiative represents our humanitarian mission to promote equitable, sustainable well-being across the globe.
The American Help for Lebanon Association is Illumi-Nation Global’s cooperating village partner. AHLA is a U.S. nonprofit, tax-exempt organization sharing Illumi’s humanitarian mission to promote reliable, affordable solar energy. AHLA (https://www.ahlalb.org/home) connected Illumi-Nation Global with the mayor and other residents of Maamariyeh, who, like the people of Ain Arab, need sustainable electrical power to pump water from the local well for critical irrigation needs.
The American Task Force on Lebanon is the premier nonprofit advocacy organization for maintaining and strengthening bilateral and citizen-to-citizen relations with Lebanon. ATFL supports Illumi’s networking efforts across the U.S.-based diaspora through its research, policy analysis, webinars, and other activities.