Solar energy kits are increasingly helping keep the lights on in disaster-hit areas and humanitarian crises, including Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, as improving technology and falling costs make renewable energy more accessible.

Every day, Mohammed Saber places a rectangular solar panel on the roof of the bamboo-and-tarpaulin shack where he and his family have lived for years after fleeing the Myanmar military's brutal crackdown on the Rohingya in 2017.

The panel is part of a portable solar kit provided to the family as humanitarian aid six years ago. Since then, it has remained their primary source of electricity in the refugee camp in Teknaf, Bangladesh, making their daily lives much easier.

"We can now charge our phones, cook with light, children can study at night and use fans during the hot season," said Saber, 35.

From flood-affected areas of Nepal to refugee camps in Africa, solar energy is increasingly becoming part of disaster relief efforts as technology advances, prices decline and humanitarian organisations recognise electricity as a basic necessity.

Experts say the need for renewable energy solutions has grown as climate change fuels and intensifies extreme weather events, while wars, sanctions and political instability continue to make fossil fuel prices volatile.

Portable solar kits offer flexible solutions

Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen, a research fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute, an independent research and policy institute specialising in sustainable development, said solar kits could be particularly valuable when disasters strike and humanitarian needs rise.

These compact, all-in-one systems use solar panels and operate independently of the electricity grid, making them easy to transport and recharge, she said.

"In emergency situations, solar kits can be deployed immediately," Rosenberg-Jansen said, adding that they are especially useful when floodwaters rise rapidly, front lines shift during conflicts or damaged roads make transportation difficult.

The kits come in various forms, ranging from solar lanterns, torches and home systems to solar heating pads and electric cookstoves powered by solar energy, she said.

Falling costs expand use of solar energy

Rosenberg-Jansen said solar panels are less vulnerable to price shocks than fossil fuels, which can be expensive and difficult to transport to disaster-hit areas.

Solar energy was considered a luxury just a few decades ago, but technological advancements and large-scale manufacturing have made it more affordable, she said.

Yuriy Boyechko, chief executive officer of US-based nonprofit Hope For Ukraine, which provides solar kits to families in war-affected Ukraine, said the technology had also become easier to operate.

"We have grandmas and grandpas who are around 75-80 years old ... receiving kits," Boyechko said. "It's just a matter of plug (in) and play."

Solar-powered solutions are becoming increasingly common in humanitarian operations.

On the outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan's economic hub, a tuberculosis clinic run by Doctors Without Borders relies on solar energy. In South Sudan's Renk county, the UN migration agency has installed solar-powered water filtration systems for families displaced by the war in neighbouring Sudan.

Following massive floods in Nepal in August that killed 1,455 people and left 5,285 missing, including hundreds of foreign nationals, solar kits were distributed by local and international organisations, including Australia-based charity SolarBuddy.

Funding shortages, bureaucracy hamper progress

Despite the growing use of solar energy, integrating it into humanitarian operations remains challenging, said Mark Gibson of the Global Platform for Action (GPA), which promotes access to affordable, reliable and clean energy.

Aid agencies have long relied on established systems, often involving diesel generators supplied through long-term leases and agreements. Switching to solar energy requires confidence in new technologies and the development of alternative distribution networks, sometimes in high-risk environments.

Cuts in international donor funding have also weakened or eliminated some emerging practices, said Aimee Jenks, a programme leader at GPA.

"Much of the technical expertise in the humanitarian sector on energy has been cut," she said. "That's now retracting a lot of progress."

Although solar energy has become cheaper, its cost remains beyond the reach of many communities and humanitarian organisations.

Boyechko said Hope For Ukraine expects to have distributed more than 3,200 solar kits by the end of 2026. However, funding constraints have limited the pace of distribution.

"But it took us two years to get to that number, because of funding needs," he said. "We have a waiting list of about 20,000 families. We just cannot keep up with demand."

While no energy source is without drawbacks, experts say the shift towards renewable energy could reduce dependence on polluting fossil fuels.

For Saber, whose family is among more than one million refugees from Myanmar's Rohingya ethnic and religious minority now living in Bangladesh, the solar kit has made a tangible difference.

"It's improved my family's life," he said.