Salma Belassakri

Salma Belassakri is studying Renewable Energies at the Morocco Higher School of Technology. In 2023, Salma came to the United States to study Leadership Development with a focus on climate change through the Student Leaders Program (SLP). During her month of Student Leaders studies at the University of Delaware, she designed a civic engagement project (CEP) entitled Sun Blessed Streets. Her CEP addresses the challenge that a large percentage of her municipal government’s budget is spent on non-renewable electrical lighting expenses, with a plan to replace the old-fashioned public lighting with modern renewable solar LED lighting. This project supports and aligns with Morocco’s 2030 goal of reaching 52% usage of renewable energy sources.

When Salma returned home after the summer 2023 Student Leaders Program, she resumed her university studies and pitched the idea of replacing her university’s outdoor non-renewable electrical lighting with renewable solar LED lighting to one of her professors. Together with her professor, they faced the challenge of limited space for installing full-sized solar panels on their small campus. Due to these space limitations, they pivoted to installing small individual solar panel LED lights to cover the entrance and green outdoor areas of the campus.

The Morocco Higher School of Technology provided funding for the purchase of the solar LED lighting, and these individual units were sourced through local businesses in the region. The main shared goal was to equip the whole school with solar energy. As part of Salma’s end-of-study project, she has already managed to work with her university to cover approximately 70% of the energy demand for campus lighting.

Salma has made significant progress with her CEP as she moves forward in addressing climate change. Utilizing renewable energy, Salma and her university team have begun installing solar-powered lights on campus streets, and now the university’s entrance lighting system is entirely solar-powered. She continues to make strides towards achieving eco-friendly energy independence for public lighting and plans to work on energy storage systems to harness solar power and develop these systems using AI programming.

Salma’s Sun Blessed Streets civic engagement project has guided her efforts to convert non-renewable energy systems to solar-powered LED systems in Morocco. Her successful partnership with her university marks an important milestone as she continues to implement her project to promote the use of renewable energy systems.

New renewable energy solar powered LED lighting installed at the entrance of the Morocco Higher School of Technology.

Funding for the Student Leaders Program is provided by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Office of Assistance Coordination (NEA-AC).