Developing Rural Markets for Solar Products : Lessons from Ghana

This paper assesses market development as a sustainable approach to increasing the use of renewable energy, specifically solar, using the case of Ghana's Solar Project. This strategy is intended to overcome some weaknesses of donor-driven and fee-for-service models in sustaining gains beyond th...

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Main Authors:	Steel, William F., Anyidoho, Nana Akua, Dadzie, Frank Y., Hosier, Richard H.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	en_US
Published:	Elsevier 2016
Subjects:	renewable energy solar energy photovoltaic
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24236

id	okr-10986-24236
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-242362021-05-25T10:54:35Z Developing Rural Markets for Solar Products : Lessons from Ghana Steel, William F. Anyidoho, Nana Akua Dadzie, Frank Y. Hosier, Richard H. renewable energy solar energy photovoltaic This paper assesses market development as a sustainable approach to increasing the use of renewable energy, specifically solar, using the case of Ghana's Solar Project. This strategy is intended to overcome some weaknesses of donor-driven and fee-for-service models in sustaining gains beyond the end of projects. The literature shows that developing a sustainable market for solar products in underserved rural areas requires an integrated approach addressing demand, supply, financing, quality, and facilitation. The Ghana Solar Project was well designed to overcome constraints in all of these areas. Results were positive in terms of numbers of systems purchased and impact on perceived benefits and willingness to pay. Benefits were documented with respect to education, information, mobile phone charging, income generation, and health and fire risks. Competition increased, and system costs fell. Financial institutions expanded their products and outreach, and in most cases had good recovery rates. Nevertheless, sustained market growth may be constrained by the lack of local technicians and spare parts and by possible withdrawal of some local Rural and Community Banks from providing financing and Solar Project Officers to facilitate the process, in the absence of a line of credit and results-based bonuses. 2016-05-05T17:18:44Z 2016-05-05T17:18:44Z 2016-04 Journal Article Energy for Sustainable Development 0973-0826 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24236 en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Elsevier Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research Ghana
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	renewable energy solar energy photovoltaic
spellingShingle	renewable energy solar energy photovoltaic Steel, William F. Anyidoho, Nana Akua Dadzie, Frank Y. Hosier, Richard H. Developing Rural Markets for Solar Products : Lessons from Ghana
geographic_facet	Ghana
description	This paper assesses market development as a sustainable approach to increasing the use of renewable energy, specifically solar, using the case of Ghana's Solar Project. This strategy is intended to overcome some weaknesses of donor-driven and fee-for-service models in sustaining gains beyond the end of projects. The literature shows that developing a sustainable market for solar products in underserved rural areas requires an integrated approach addressing demand, supply, financing, quality, and facilitation. The Ghana Solar Project was well designed to overcome constraints in all of these areas. Results were positive in terms of numbers of systems purchased and impact on perceived benefits and willingness to pay. Benefits were documented with respect to education, information, mobile phone charging, income generation, and health and fire risks. Competition increased, and system costs fell. Financial institutions expanded their products and outreach, and in most cases had good recovery rates. Nevertheless, sustained market growth may be constrained by the lack of local technicians and spare parts and by possible withdrawal of some local Rural and Community Banks from providing financing and Solar Project Officers to facilitate the process, in the absence of a line of credit and results-based bonuses.
format	Journal Article
author	Steel, William F. Anyidoho, Nana Akua Dadzie, Frank Y. Hosier, Richard H.
author_facet	Steel, William F. Anyidoho, Nana Akua Dadzie, Frank Y. Hosier, Richard H.
author_sort	Steel, William F.
title	Developing Rural Markets for Solar Products : Lessons from Ghana
title_short	Developing Rural Markets for Solar Products : Lessons from Ghana
title_full	Developing Rural Markets for Solar Products : Lessons from Ghana
title_fullStr	Developing Rural Markets for Solar Products : Lessons from Ghana
title_full_unstemmed	Developing Rural Markets for Solar Products : Lessons from Ghana
title_sort	developing rural markets for solar products : lessons from ghana
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2016
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24236
_version_	1764456009565208576

Developing Rural Markets for Solar Products : Lessons from Ghana

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