Our Story

n 2015, GHE established its first partnership for the Himalayan Electrification Project with IEEE Smart Village. A chance meeting with the founders of IEEE SV in Mumbai sparked a decade-long collaboration. This partnership has since evolved to include the electrification of remote Himalayan villages and monasteries, as well as the development of pilot models for digital labs in schools.

Building on the successful partnership with IEEE, GHE secured its first CSR partner, Welspun. This collaboration not only provided funding for the electrification of remote villages but also involved sending Welspun employees to Ladakh to experience hands-on leadership in the field.

In 2016, GHE was invited to Livingstone, Zambia, to share its experiences with the emerging IEEE African Entrepreneurs community on establishing sustainable models of rural electrification. The conference also provided an opportunity to form partnerships with fellow energy access startups seeking solutions and support to scale their models on the ground.

National geographic shot a documentary on GHE as part of their Breakthrough Series – Season 2. The Documentary focussed on importance of Decentralised solar grids as a means to bring power to the remote communities of the world. The documentary has been viewed by millions of people across more than 100 countries in the globe and is currently running on Disney Hotsar as well.

GE Power entered into a partnership to solar power 10 villages in Ladakh through the implementation of solar microgrids. This global collaboration also included the participation of GE senior leadership in these electrification expeditions as part of their Accelerated Leadership Program.

Following the success of Corporate Expeditions with GE, GHE also launched its first Women Leader Expedition which featured senior women leaders from the corporate sector coming together from several locations across the globe. As part of the expedition, the women leaders brought solar energy to a remote monastery run by the local Ladakhi nuns.

To create sustainability in the model of GHE, the villages that were being developed through Solar Power were taken a step further in terms of developing these remote villages as sustainable tourism destinations through the setup of Eco Homestays under the Mountain Homestays initiative.

In 2018, GHE was selected as one of the top 10 sustainable tourism start-ups to be part of the Booking.com booster program. The team spent 2 weeks with experts and other startups at the booking.com office and was able to win a grant funding to accelerate its work on developing the impact tourism agenda.

To promote livelihoods in villages where eco-homestays have been established and to leverage the dark skies of the Himalayas, GHE launched the Astrostays initiative. This program engages the local community in providing stargazing and astronomy sessions for travellers visiting Ladakh, offering unique experiences at the homestays.

In 2019, GHE launched student expeditions that involved schools partnering with GHE as part of their CAS Programs. The students along with the faculty travelled to remote Himalayan villages to implement sustainability projects around clean energy to positively impact the communities and achieve the UN SDG Goals

During the COVID crisis, GHE undertook the task to strengthen the local health centres in the Northeast part of India. The health centres were upgraded with Solar Power to ensure 24*7 access to energy along with critical medical care equipment to provide the local communities with modern health facilities.

In order to bridge the educational divide for the students in the remote rural regions, GHE began to leverage digital education tools through the setup of Solar Powered computer labs along with offline experiential and educational content. This digital transformation enabled students to access information beyond what was being offered to them.

For its efforts in enhancing primary health center facilities in remote villages of Ladakh and Meghalaya through the installation of rooftop solar power systems and critical medical equipment, GHE was honored with the Microgrid Greater Good Award in Pennsylvania.

For the first time, GHE collaborated with a tour operator to organize an expedition for a group of trekkers from Austria. These partner expeditions enabled GHE to expand outreach for its impact expeditions through various other tour operators specializing in adventure and responsible tourism. 

In 2023, GHE expanded beyond India by successfully commissioning an 11KW solar plant for a school in Nepal with limited access to grid electricity. Completed with the support of a local Nepali partner, this project marked a significant step in GHE’s expansion into international energy access initiatives.

In December 2023, GHE received the Sustainability Champions Award from the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India. This accolade recognized GHE’s efforts in sustainability and community development, highlighting its role in advancing adventure tourism in the country.

In order to accelerate its environmental impact and expand its outreach, GHE began to work with the private sector to enable the transition to net zero by enabling the communities to transition to clean cooking solutions, thereby enabling a 60% reduction in carbon emissions from the household using traditional cooking solutions and bio-mass.

To advance sustainable rural tourism in India’s frontier villages, GHE signed an MOU with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. This agreement aims to develop blueprints and models to transform these remote villages into potential destinations for travellers seeking offbeat getaways.