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ePaper created 2014-06-03, 15:03:20 | version 1.30.01
99 05 RENEWABLES 2014 GLOBAL STATUS REPORT common in Bangladesh, where one organisation sells SHS with a 15% down-payment, provides customers with three-year loans at 6%, after-sale services, and long-term product warranties. It also provides technical training across rural Bangladesh and trains entrepreneurs, particularly women, to become owners of their own renewable energy businesses.81 Under leasing arrangements, the customer leases the energy system for extended periods of time, or leases it for a fixed period before eventually owning it and so is spared the high upfront costs. In Honduras and the Dominican Republic, companies provide SHS services via either direct lease or lease-to-own arrangements.82 In franchise models, local entrepreneurs in rural areas are trained to run micro-enterprises. A variation of this model is used for the Lighting a Billion Lives campaign in India, which is helping to set up solar businesses that rent out charged solar lanterns on a daily basis in poorly electrified villages.83 Rural customers can be difficult to reach, particularly in regions where roads are poor or non-existent, or during rainy seasons. Establishing rural supply chains and after-sales service through franchise and other business models, with technicians and engineers living and working near their customers, helps to develop trust in a product and supplier while also ensuring that systems keep operating and that needed repairs are carried out quickly.84 Mini-utilities—small, decentralised businesses that run mini- grids—are also found increasingly in poor rural areas across the developing world. They vary significantly in size, rely on a range of generation technologies, and often provide enough power for productive uses such as water pumping, milling, and grinding, in addition to meeting basic household needs. Many such companies use renewables in mini-grid systems to keep costs down and make them more stable relative to diesel, although renewable-based mini-utilities can have high maintenance requirements.85 Monthly charges can represent significant expenditures for households, but they are attractive in many locations where people are already paying similar amounts for kerosene and appliance-charging services.86 Business models used in the cooking and heating markets also vary. Often, cookstove companies are indigenous enterprises that employ members of the local community to manufacture clean stoves that are adapted to local conditions and norms.87 Increasingly, international players that provide high-quality but generally more expensive products are becoming engaged in the sector. They often work with public sector partners to help market the stoves and to educate consumers about their benefits.88 Crowdfundingi is also starting to play a role in providing energy access. It is a potentially significant source of financing for the distributed off-grid market, which relies on small-scale investments typically of a few thousand dollars per system.89 To date, many mainstream investors have tended to avoid small levels of funding since they carry high transaction costs. Crowdfunding allows individual private investors to make payments to local partners via an online platform; over time, the partner makes repayments to the funder who, in turn, repays investors.90 A recent example is a portal that raised more than USD 15,000 to fund solar kits for lighting and mobile phone charging systems for 19,000 households in Uganda.91 Throughout the developing world, technological advancements and falling prices are enabling renewables to spread rapidly to new markets in rural and remote areas.92 Renewable energy technologies, combined with business models adapted to specific countries or regions, have proven to be reliable and affordable methods for achieving access to modern energy services, advancing quality of life, and improving human and environmental health. i - Crowdfunding is the mechanism by which small companies and start-ups raise capital from many small investors, in return for an equity stake, structured payments, products, or a combination thereof.