Solar Lighting in Africa In the rural areas of Africa, where there is no electricity, solar lights seem to be the perfect solution. Almost 95% of the rural African population depend on Kerosene lamps for their living. They spend a huge amount of money buying such lamps and kerosene oil which is so hazardous and […]
Solar Financing in India The price of solar power systems has come down drastically in India making solar panel affordable for even the poorest Indian citizens. Note large parts of India remain dark as the Indian power grid does not reach those parts. Solar Lamps have been successful in India mainly due to their economic […]
Solar Panels have become massively oversupplied globally with companies in the boom years of 2010 and 2011 installing record amount of solar equipment. It is estimated that the solar equipment installed globally is around 50 GW compared to the 2011 at around 28 GW. The scale of this massive expansion can be understood by comparing […]
Solar Energy is one of the best ways to bring energy to the disenfranchised poor in Africa and Asia which have no access to electricity and energy. Note Solar Panel prices have fallen by almost 90% in the last 4-5 years making solar energy much more accessible to the poor . Solar Panels can be now be bought at less than $200 which makes them affordable to large sections of the poor. They having stopped costing a ton in subsidy money given the low prices. Besides massive capacities exist in China and other places in Asia which can churn out solar panels in the hundreds of millions.
The Solar Products Business is booming not only from the Solar Power Plants but also in consumer products business. Sol not are big conglomerates like Mahindra, GMR , Reliance getting into the lucrative booming solar power in India, but now water purifier companies in India are too getting into the act. India’s biggest water purifying company Eureka Forbes which is found in almost every Indian home is going to start selling solar lighting products like torches and lanterns.
However distribution into the millions of villages remains the biggest hurdle even if the people there can afford the products.T here are no good roads and the smaller solar companies lack the marketing muscle of say a big MNC like Hindustan Lever and ITC.People have tried to sell solar products using the microfinance companies but have not had much success as of now.India’s government has also pushed some small subsidy schemes but the red tape and the off and on nature has meant failure.