From climate-driven disasters to Rohingya refugee camps, solar kits help keep the lights on

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Every day, Mohammed Saber places a single rectangular solar panel on the roof of the bamboo-and-tarpaulin shack that he and his family have called home for years, the last stop on their journey after fleeing the Myanmar military’s brutal crackdown on the Rohingya in 2017.

The panel is part of a portable solar kit given to the Rohingya refugee family as humanitarian aid six years ago. It's been the family's primary source of electricity, making daily life so much easier in the camp for the displaced in Teknaf, Bangladesh.

"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 the flood zones of Nepal to refugee camps in Africa, experts say that solar energy is increasingly becoming part of disaster relief as technology improves, costs fall and humanitarian organizations recognize that having access to electricity is a fundamental need.

Renewable energy solutions are needed more than ever, they say, as climate change drives and intensifies extreme weather while wars, sanctions and political upheavals keep fossil fuel prices volatile.

When disasters strike and humanitarian needs surge, solar kits can become an invaluable resource, says Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen, a research fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute, an independent research and policy institute specializing in sustainable development.

These solar kits — all-in-one, compact units that use solar panels and are not reliant on utility companies — are easy to move and recharge, according to Rosenberg-Jansen.

“In emergency situations, solar kits can be deployed immediately,” she said, adding that they are particularly useful in situations with rapidly rising floodwaters, changing front lines in a conflict, or for moving around in areas where damaged roads make it difficult to travel.

In terms of function, the kits can be "anything from solar lanterns to solar home systems, solar torches, solar heating pads, to electric cook stoves that use solar as their energy source,” she said.

Rosenberg-Jansen also pointed out that solar panels are not prone to price shocks like fossil fuels, which can be difficult and costly to transport to a disaster zone.

Only a few decades ago, solar energy was a luxury, she added, but as technology evolved, mindsets and the price tag changed. Now it's more affordable, thanks to the scaling up of mass manufacturing and technology advancement.

It's also so much easier to use, said Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope For Ukraine, a nonprofit based in the United States that provides solar kits to families living in war-torn Ukraine.

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

Solar panels are becoming more common now.

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

And after Nepal's massive floods 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 organizations, including Australia-based charity SolarBuddy.

Mark Gibson from Global Platform for Action, or GPA, which promotes affordable, reliable and clean energy access, said that integrating solar energy hasn't come without difficulties.

Aid agencies have had time-tested systems in place, which often include diesel generators as part of long-term leases and agreements. Switching to solar means having to trust new systems and setting up new distribution chains, sometimes in risky environments.

Recent slashes in international donor funding have also undermined — or completely erased — new practices that were starting to take root, said Aimee Jenks, a program 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.”

And while the cost of solar energy has decreased, it's still prohibitive for many.

Boyechko, of Hope For Ukraine, said that by the end of 2026, his nonprofit will have distributed over 3,200 kits.

“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 perfect, the move towards renewable energies is likely to decrease reliance on polluting fossil fuels.

For Saber, whose family is among more than 1 million refugees from Myanmar’s Rohingya ethnic and religious minority now living in Bangladesh, the kit means keeping the lights on.

“It’s improved my family’s life,” he said.

Freelancer photographer Ayub Khan Dkl in Teknaf, Bangaldesh, contributed to this report.

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In this photo taken with a phone, Mohammed Hares keeps his small shop open at night using a light powered by solar panels on Oct. 2, 2026, in Teknaf, Bangaldesh. (AP Photo/Abdul Khan Dkl)

In this photo taken with a phone, a woman uses a light powered by solar panels in her kitchen on Oct. 4, 2026, in Teknaf, Bangaldesh. (AP Photo/Abdul Khan Dkl)

In this photo taken with a phone, children use a light powered by a solar panel to study at night inside their shelter on Oct. 3, 2026, in Teknaf, Bangaldesh. (AP Photo/Abdul Khan Dkl)

FILE - A family displaced by flooding has a solar panel set up outside their tent in Garsen town within Tana River County, Kenya, Dec. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Gideon Maundu, File)

FILE - A displaced man inspects a small solar panel at a makeshift camp in Taiz, Yemen, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik, File)

Solar panels sit on top of makeshift shelters to power homes and streetlights Oct. 3, 2026, in Teknaf, Bangaldesh. (AP Photo/Abdul Khan Dkl)

In this photo taken with a phone, Mohammed Hares turns on a solar-powered fan inside his shop Oct. 4, 2026, in Teknaf, Bangaldesh. (AP Photo/Abdul Khan Dkl)

In this photo taken with a phone, Mohammed Saber cleans a solar panel to ensure it charges properly on Oct. 4, 2026, in Teknaf, Bangaldesh. (AP Photo/Abdul Khan Dkl)

A man charged with rigging college basketball games as part of an elaborate point-fixing scheme that raked in millions was sentenced to six years in federal prison, prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced on Tuesday.

It was the first penalty handed down as part of an investigation that revealed a sprawling network of professional gamblers and college basketball players who, prosecutors say, profited off fixed games.

Prosecutors said Jalen Smith, 30, played a “central role” in helping fix games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 NCAA Division I basketball seasons, placing bets and recruiting players with the promise of a big payment for purposefully underperforming during a game, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said on Tuesday. Bettors would then wager against the players’ teams in those games, defrauding sportsbooks and other gamblers, authorities said. Smith pleaded guilty earlier this year to bribery and wire fraud charges.

The sentencing comes at the start of the 2026-27 NCAA basketball season, when bettors will wager billions of dollars both legally and illegally on games nationwide. In the meantime, law enforcement, regulators and sports leagues have struggled to keep up with gambling's growing popularity in collegiate and professional sports alike.

“Today’s sentencing sends a clear message: Those who exploit professional and collegiate athletes for personal gain will be held accountable,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of the FBI's Philadelphia office. “This conduct does more than harm individual athletes. It undermines the integrity of sports and the trust placed in fair competition.”

Smith's attorney, Rocco Cipparone, said his client took full responsibility for crimes at the sentencing hearing and apologized to those impacted. Cipparone also noted that the federal judge seemed to take Smith's apology as sincere, sentencing him to less time than what prosecutors recommended.

The point-shaving scheme Smith was involved in is said to have involved nearly 30 NCAA basketball games, and included schools like DePaul University, State University of New York at Buffalo and Tulane University, among others.

Prosecutors accused Smith and at least 26 other named defendants of wagering millions of dollars and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to players in bribes. Payments to players typically ranged from $10,000 to $30,000 per game, according to an indictment.

Smith and others strategically targeted players considered “underdogs” in games, encouraging them to underperform in order to guarantee certain spreads. Those players were prime targets, prosecutors said, because they were offered money that exceeded potential income from legitimate sponsorships.

Smith, of Charlotte, North Carolina, trained and developed local basketball players for professional scouting combines and used those connections with players when he became part of the scheme, according to prosecutors.

The point-shaving scheme resulted in more than $3 million in fraudulent wagers. Smith, who also pleaded guilty to a separate felony gun possession charge, will have to pay $1.1 million in restitution, which prosecutors said is the cost incurred by gambling platforms as a result of the scheme.

Besides the fixers who recruited players and placed bets, the charges targeted over a dozen former college basketball players and four other players who were active with their college teams last season.

FILE - Information is displayed during a news conference to announce charges against several people including former college basketball players, in what prosecutors called a betting scheme to rig NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association games, Jan. 15, 2026 in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa, File)

FILE - This photo taken with a fisheye lens shows the NCAA logo displayed at mid-court in Philadelphia, March 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)