Solar products for poor rural communities as a business: lessons from a successful project in Uttar Pradesh, India

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• 作者：Johannes Urpelainen ; Semee Yoon
• 关键词：Solar home systems ; Demonstration effects ; Rural electrification ; Off ; grid electricity ; Energy access ; Energy poverty ; India
• 刊名：Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：February 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：18
• 期：2
• 页码：617-626
• 全文大小：615 KB
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• 作者单位：Johannes Urpelainen (1)
  Semee Yoon (1)
  
  1. Columbia University, 420 West 118th Street, 712 International Affairs Building, New York, NY, 10027, USA
  
• 刊物类别：Engineering
• 刊物主题：Industrial and Production Engineering
  Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
  Industrial Pollution Prevention
  Environmental Economics
  
• 出版者：Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
• ISSN：1618-9558

文摘

Can sales of solar products and services be a commercially viable business in poor rural communities? Although enthusiasm for off-grid electrification among researchers and practitioners is widespread, the determinants of commercial success in this domain remain poorly understood. This article reports results and lessons from a successful field project in Uttar Pradesh, India. In collaboration with a local social enterprise, Boond Engineering and Development, a small investment of USD 5000 was made to establish an energy center in the Unnao district of the state. The energy center became profitable immediately and generated seven dollars of business in solar home systems for every dollar invested during the 6-month evaluation period. Factors contributing to the success of the project included robust marketing, a strong banking partnership, the high quality of products, and continuous evaluation of staff performance. Challenges to sales of solar products included a bias in sales toward large solar home systems, the limited access to finance for poor households, and access to working capital. Overall, the energy center model holds considerable promise for alleviating energy poverty in rural India on a large scale. Keywords Solar home systems Demonstration effects Rural electrification Off-grid electricity Energy access Energy poverty India