[1][2][3] SELF has completed several projects in more than 20 countries including a solar powered drip irrigation in Benin,[4] a health care center in Haiti,[5] telemedicine in the Amazon rainforest,[6] online learning platform in South Africa,[1] and a microenterprise development in Nigeria.

It seeks to provide benefits in: SELF was founded in 1990 by Neville Williams,[9] a journalist and author, who had experience actively promoting solar power as a consultant to the United States Department of Energy during the Carter administration.

[10] For much of the 1990s, SELF's primary mission was to deliver solar home systems – 50-watt units installed at the household level that could generate enough power to run a few compact fluorescent lights, a radio, and a small black and white television for four or five hours each evening.

[13] Beginning in 2000, SELF embarked on its next generation of projects that would seek to harness solar energy for things such as advancing water pumping and purification, purveying electrification to rural schools and health clinics, providing power to small businesses and micro-enterprises, and facilitating communication access.

SELF installed a 2.4-kilowatt solar array, which generated enough electricity to power approximately 20 PCs donated by Dell Computers and a small satellite dish that delivered Internet access to Myeka High School.

In addition to its current project sites, SELF has worked in Bhutan,[12] Brazil,[14] Burundi,[15] China,[12] India,[13] Indonesia,[citation needed] Kenya,[16] Lesotho,[15] the Navajo Nation,[12] Nepal,[10] Nigeria,[7] Rwanda,[17] the Solomon Islands,[10] South Africa,[1] Sri Lanka,[12] Tanzania,[18] Uganda,[10] Vietnam,[10] and Zimbabwe.

[19] In partnership with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Association pour le Developpement Economique Social et Culturel de Kalalé (ADESCA), SELF has installed a total of eleven of its Solar Market Gardens™ (SMG), an innovative, unique solar-powered drip irrigation system, for women farming collectives in Dunkassa and Bessassi, two villages in the arid, northern part of the country.

[20] A two-year study conducted by Stanford University's Program on Food Security and the Environment department appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that SELF's SMGs, "significantly augments both household income and nutritional intake, particularly during the dry season, and is cost effective compared to alternative technologies.

SELF was selected as a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for groundbreaking research in solar powered direct-drive freezers to support global health and development.