The Tel Keppe District is located between the cities of Mosul and Duhok and has struggled to rebuild towns and villages since the 2003 US-led invasion. For many years, this area was neglected by both the Iraqi central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), leading to deteriorating living conditions. By 2018, large parts of the district received only 3 hours of electricity per day. In order to have electricity for the remaining hours, families would have to pay a monthly fee to connect to a local generator. While this diesel generator was a temporary solution, it still led to many problems. With multiple generators operating throughout the area, it resulted in increased monthly and maintenance fees, air and noise pollution, as well as limited electricity just to turn on a few appliances. Even then, the generators turn off every night at midnight, leading to families having no source of electricity from 12AM until the next morning.

After years of suffering, Shlama Foundation found an opportunity to establish a long-term solution to the area's electricity problem: solar energy. With assistance from engineer Faiz Yono and grant writer Josephine Attisha, the Shlama team applied for a grant from USAID's New Partnerships Initiative (NPI). USAID awarded the grant to Shlama and the solar team worked to hire 6 engineer graduates from the area to train in solar technology. After training, the team succeeded in signing up 100 homes in Tesqopa for home solar systems as well as 30 farms across the Alqosh sub-district. 

After requesting specifications from local solar vendors, Shlama awarded the winning bid to Silevany and the engineers began to install the solar systems in homes and farms. The local people were immediately impacted as now they have 24 hours of electricity. The farms benefited too now that they had electricity to turn on their water motors and water their farms in order to maximize their crop profits. The team also installed solar street lights. For the first time ever, Bendawaya was lit at night with 24 solar street lights. An additional 40 streetlights will be installed in Tesqopa and 21 solar LED lights will be installed in Ain Baqre as well. This project provides full-time sustainable jobs for engineers, which is another major accomplishment.